Thomas Tomkins – the last Elizabethan By Susan Foulcher
Thomas Tomkins, born 450 years ago, is frequently called the last representative of the English Virginal School and one of the last English Madrigalists. A musical conservative, he’s even been called ‘the last Elizabethan’ as he continued working 50 years after Elizabeth’s death using archaic, largely Elizabethan, musical forms and style. And yet he’s also been called the leading English composer of the mid-17th century, so it’s interesting to speculate as to why he clung to the musical values of the previous generation, when he clearly had a musical voice of his own.
His reputation as a madrigalist rests on the 1622 publication of his Songs of 3, 4, 5 and 6 parts – a revelatory collection of madrigals and motets representing the final flowering of the English madrigal tradition. They are inventive, with a close association between words and music, although the then-fashionable Italian influence is absent. His most famous ‘sacred madrigal’, When David Heard, was from this collection. A poignant expression of grief, it was written in response to the untimely death of Prince Henry in 1612.
The anthems are highly regarded, demonstrating his genius for vocal colour and text expression. Thomas Tomkins would have been delighted to know that this collection provided an excellent source of church music for the revitalised church choirs that followed the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. Until recently Tomkins’ reputation was based solely on his vocal works, especially the sacred ones, as his keyboard and viol consort music had not been published. It’s clear, though, that Tomkins’ viol music was copied and circulated by connoisseurs during his lifetime. His viol output, particularly the fantasias, shows an innate understanding of the sonority of the instruments, employing virtuosic passagework and singing melodic lines. Similarly, his prolific keyboard music demonstrates excellence in a wide variety of forms, from organ voluntaries to intricate dances and in nominees, even producing a ground-breaking keyboard duet, A Fancy for two to play (on one virginal) – one of the earliest keyboard duets composed in England.
The mid 1600s brought about profound and severe changes in England which affected the political, religious, and cultural fabric of the country, and the consequences of the upheaval were dire for Tomkins. Organist at Worcester Cathedral since 1596, he suffered the destruction of his organ and the demise of the choral tradition under the Puritans, as well as damage to his own house. He lost his position in 1646 when cathedral services were discontinued. He also lost his two wives within the space of ten years. When Charles I was executed in 1649, the royalistsympathising Tomkins wrote, understandably, a Sad Pavan for these distracted times. His life was in tatters.
Surely a somewhat conservative style can be forgiven when the turmoil of a life spanning the Tudor/Stuart reigns and the civil war is taken into consideration. The change and upheaval Tomkins experienced make the choice of the ‘familiar’ and ‘traditional’ musical palette all the more understandable.
It’s hardly surprising, then, that Tomkins, already in his seventies, retired and wrote largely unfashionable keyboard music that suited his own tastes. His son, Nathaniel, undertook the publication of his sacred music posthumously in 1668 under the title Musica Deo Sacra. As well as five settings of the morning and evening canticles, it contains the jewel in Tomkins’ compositional crown – his ninety-four anthems – and constitutes the largest single source of early 17th century church music.
For a program of Thomas Tomkins’ vocal and instrumental music, as well as the music of three composers who died in the year of Tomkins’ birth, tune in to Baroque and Before: 1572 Comings and Goings on Friday 4 March at 10pm.
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