Tomkins, Thomas

He came from a Welsh musical family. There is no exact information about Tomkins' musical education. In dedication to the madrigal “Too much I once lamented”, which was included in the (later) collection of 1622, Tomkins calls W. Byrd ^[7] his “old and respected teacher”. Since 1596, Tomkins has been an organist at the Worcester Cathedral. In 1607, received a bachelor's degree from Oxford University . The musical views of Tomkins were also influenced by the T. Morley treatise “Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke” (a copy of the book with the notes of Tomkins was preserved). Although Tomkins was not a regular member (“gentleman”) of Chapel Royal , researchers believe that he wrote a number of his compositions not for Worcester’s native (and modest in terms of music and performance), but commissioned by the London court. In 1621, Tomkins received the post of organist of the Royal Chapel. At the same time, O. Gibbons worked as Capella's senior organist, and Tomkins most likely took his place (after his death in 1625). After the death of his wife (in 1642), Tomkins returned to Worcester, where he continued to work as a council organist until 1654.

Tomkins is one of the most versatile composers of his generation. He is known both as a representative of the English school of virginists and as a prolific author of (Anglican) church music.

The largest part of Tomkins' legacy is anthems and plays of other genres for the Anglican official. Over 100 of his anthems were included in the large-scale collection Musica Deo sacra et ecclesiae anglicanae (1668). More often than not, the performed full anthem “When David heard” demonstrates the main advantages of Tomkins' “serious” music - strong polyphonic technique, moderate balance in the use of all means of musical expressiveness (harmony, rhythm, texture). About half of all Tomkins’s anthems are poetic, often representing cross-sectional and multi-component compositions with instrumental ritelnels alternating with solo, ensemble and choral parts (like “O Lord, lett me knowe myne end” and “Turn thou us”). By tradition, the headings of some of his church writings are Latin headings ( Te Deum , Magnificat , Nunc dimittis , etc.), although they are written in newly composed English texts.

Tomkins is the author of clavier and consort music in various genres: fantasies (including the so-called hexachordic ones , that is, on the “theme” ut re mi fa sol la ), dance suites, choral preludes and adaptations, and plays in the genre of In nomine . Less significant are Tomkins' madrigals (about 30, mainly by 5 and 6 votes). Some of them are secular counterfeiters of his own anthems. A number of plays called by the author madrigals actually represent the English version of the Italian balletto (including Too much I once lamented, perhaps Tomkins' most popular vocal composition). Among the madrigals, “Woe is me” stands out, in which the use of a low register is clearly symbolic , and “Musicke devine” (also with elements of musical rhetoric). From a small number of clavier compositions by Tomkins, the a-moll pawan ^[8] , with the memorable chromatic course a-gis-g-fis-fe (with imitations ) in the final part, gained popularity (and already in the manuscripts of the 17th century). Another virgin play by Tomkins with the expressive title “Sad pavan for these distracted times ” by its dramatic pathos and quasi-improvisational freedom does not at all resemble the Renaissance entertaining dance music, but clearly belongs to a new style, the coming Baroque era.

• Cavanaugh RW The anthems in 'Musica Deo Sacra' by Thomas Tomkins. Diss., Univ. of Michigan, 1953.
• Stevens D. Thomas Tomkins. London, 1957.
• Caldwell J. English keyboard music before the nineteenth century. Oxford, 1973.
• Irving J. The instrumental music of Thomas Tomkins, 1572-1656. New York, 1989.

• Pavan a-moll performed by Andrey Volkonsky
• “Sad Pavana” performed by Gustav Leonhardt