Spem in Alium

One of my all-time favorite piece. The 40-voice motet is a complex and stunningly beautiful tapestry. Christian music has being going downhills ever since, in my opinion.

But just as extraordinary is the context in which this music was written. Thomas Tallis was a Catholic living in post-Reformation England where Catholicism was indeed a dangerous state of being. And the music was written, in part, as an appeal to Queen Elizabeth I for mercy, tolerance and compassion:

I have never put my hope in any other but in you,

O God of Israel

who can show both anger

and graciousness,

and who absolves all the sins of suffering man

Lord God,

Creator of Heaven and Earth

be mindful of our humiliation

The war for God in Europe during this era went both ways; neither the Protestant nor the Catholics were above reproach. But for Thomas Tallis, his plea for mercy and compassion is a universal plea. May the 2009 be a year of less human suffering.