Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter


In 1567 English composer Thomas Tallis contributed nine tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter, a collection of vernacular psalm settings intended for publication in a metrical psalter then being compiled for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker. They are:
  1. Man blest no doubt
  2. Let God arise in majesty
  3. Why fum'th in sight
  4. O come in one to praise the Lord
  5. E'en like the hunted hind
  6. Expend, O Lord, my plaint
  7. Why brag'st in malice high
  8. God grant with grace
  9. Come Holy Ghost, eternal God
The eight psalm tunes as printed in Parker's Psalter included symbols showing how they could be applied throughout the book. They were not separately named and appear to have become obscure for some centuries following the death of Tallis, but the set includes some of his most famous melodies: the third, "Why fum'th in sight", in the third or Phrygian mode, was used by Ralph Vaughan Williams as the basis of his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and became known as the "third mode melody"; the eighth is known as Tallis' Canon; and the last, Tallis' Ordinal, is still included in numerous hymnals.