Newcastle University

John Milsom's edition of Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur by Thomas Tallis and William Byrd

In this landmark volume John Milsom presents the whole contents of the 1575 print, including dedicatory epistles and royal patent, alongside parallel scores of contrafacta, antecedent versions and significant variants.  This volume illuminates the origins of one of the iconic English music publishing venture of the sixteenth century.

One of the best examples of contrafact in this volume is Thomas Tallis's O sacrum convivium which can trace its ancestry back to a viol fantasia, two of whose parts can be found in GB-Lbl Harl. 7578.  John Milsom's reconstruction of this fantasia was recorded by the ensemble Fretwork in 1987; a revised version of this reconstruction is in EECM 56 (Appendix 2).  Viol parts for this reconstruction are available here.