Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis (born c.1505; died Greenwich November 23 1585) was the most important English composer of his generation.

We know very little about Tallis’s youth. He may have started his career as organist at Dover and then Waltham Abbey. After the Dissolution of the monasteries he had a job at Canterbury Cathedral for a short time. He was soon made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. He had a job in the royal household until his death. He worked for four monarchs: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I.