4 Higgins ⦁ Anglo-American Psalmody Example 1: Tallis, “Purge Me, O Lord,” mm. 1–8.18 Also included in the Partbooks is Christopher Tye’s “My Trust, O Lord, in Thee Is Grounded,” stylistically more comparable to the Catholic motet with their similar florid settings of the text.19 Compared to the Tallis piece, the text is a non-strophic paraphrase of a psalm (though rhyme is still an important aspect). The music begins polyphonically and stays in that space, unlike “Purge Me,” which uses sections of polyphony and homophony somewhat equally. The counterpoint still relies on canonic imitation, yet the rhythmic flow matches well with the continental style of the motet rather than the fuging style of Tallis. However, the text setting is mostly syllabic like Tallis, which led Allan W. Atlas to comment that Tye’s work “illustrates the change in style that gradually took place in English liturgical polyphony.”20 In 1579, William Daman published The Psalmes of David in English Metre, featuring similar levels of contrapuntal imitation to Tye. However, by the time William Leighton published The Teares or Lamentacions of a Sorrowfull Soule in 1614, this highly polyphonic tradition began to fade from churches, as composers adapted to the more popular, homophonic style.21 This is seen in the fact that some of Leighton’s metrical psalms were written to be performed as consort songs, rather than in a liturgical 18 Tallis, “Purge Me, O Lord.” 19 Tye, “My Trust, O Lord, In Thee Is Grounded.” 20 Atlas, 549. 21 Duguid, 122.
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