Anthems are
usually associated with national anthems such as “The Star-Spangled
Banner.”
It usually represents a group, a country, or a movement. An
anthem can also be a sacred song. When Tomoko played for Catholic services, she
included anthems in her repertoire.
Church-based anthems go back as far as the 16th century,
and they were quite popular with the advent of the Reformation. Most of the lyrics
are drawn from the Bible. English composers developed two kinds of anthem: a
“full” anthem that was sung by an entire choir, and a “verse” anthem in which
verses were sung by soloists and the chorus was sung by the whole choir. Some
of the earliest famous English composers (all lived before 1700) of religious
anthems follow.
Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
wrote mainly English High Renaissance choral music. He composed and played the
organ for Henry VIII, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. Although a Roman Catholic, we
wrote anthems for both Catholics and the Church of England. He was one of the
first composers to write anthems set to English words.
William Byrd (1543-1623) was taught by
Thomas Tallis, and both of them had a monopoly on printing music within England.
Byrd composed in several forms: sacred and secular vocals, consort music, and
keyboard pieces. He is considered one of the great Renaissance composers.
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) is known for writing pieces
for the virginal and the organ. He built upon Byrd’s madrigal forms as well as
composed full and verse anthems. He was one of the youngest contributors to the
first printed collection of English keyboard music. His most famous verse anthem
is “This is the Record of John.”
Henry Purcell (1659-1695) composed Baroque music.
Besides being considered one of the best English opera composers, he is also
known for writing sacred music. He wrote his first anthem, “Lord Who Can Tell,”
at age 19. Two of his best anthems were written for King James II coronation.
