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The Old Science of Sound: 450 Years of
Tallis & Byrd’s Cantiones Sacrae (1575)
Tuesday 28th October 2025, at the National Centre for Early Music in York.
2025 marked the 450th anniversary of Cantiones, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur — a bold and enigmatic collection of Latin motets by William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, and the first of its kind to be published in England. Issued under a planned 21-year royal monopoly on music printing, the volume reflects the hidden pressures faced by recusant Catholics in Elizabethan England. Alongside motets from Cantiones, the programme included reconstructed works from the fragmentary Baldwin Partbooks set against the austere currency of Tallis’s metrical psalms from The Whole Psalter (1567). An accompanying exhibition was held at the York Minster Library and Archives (Dean’s Park), showcasing original copies of the 1575 partbooks and other rare books and musical manuscripts. The display ran from 28 Oct – 30 Nov during regular opening hours. This event was kindly supported by the Society for Renaissance Studies, the Company of Merchant Taylors in the City of York, UoY Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, and other generous donors.
Superius part for Thomas Tallis & William Byrd’s ‘Cantiones Sacrae’ (1575) [York Minster Library Copy] 
Superius part for John Mundy’s ‘Songs and Psalmes’ (1594) [York Minster Library Copy] 
Thomas Tallis — ‘Blessed bee thy name ô God’ [GB-Y M 29 S, page 16] 
Thomas Tallis — ‘I call and cry to thee’ [GB-Y M 1 S CC, page 128] 
William Lawes — ‘Come sing the great Jehovahs prayse’ [GB-Y M 5 S, page 84a] 
Robert White — ‘The Lord bless us and keep us’ [GB-Y M 176 S, folio 1r] 
William Child — ‘O Lord God the Heathen are come’ [GB-Y M 176 S, folio 4r]
Catterwall 