Tallis

Tallis, Thomas (circa 1515-85), a celebrated English musician. Soon after the dissolution of Waltham Abbey (1540), of which he was organist, he became a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. He excelled in counterpoint, and founded the school represented by Orlando Gibbons. Of the thirty-four motets in the Cantiones Sacrae (1575), sixteen were composed by Tallis and eighteen by William Byrd (q.v.).