Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

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oratorios Kuupaisteoratoorium [Moonlight Oratorio] (1962) and

Amores (1981); Vivat “Estonia” (1981), Alma mater (1982), and

the cantata Leivakantaat [Bread Cantata] (1986).

TAN DUN (18 AUGUST 1957– ). American composer of Chinese

origin. His works combine Western and Chinese elements, both

stylistic and spiritual. Choral compositions include 2000 Today: A

World Symphony for the Millennium, S, chorus, children’s chorus,

non-Western insts., and orch. (1999); and Water Passion after St.

Matthew, for S, B-Bar., vn., vc., perc., sampler, SATB, and sound de-

signer (2000), a work commissioned by the Oregon Bach Festival.

TAPIOLA CHAMBER CHOIR. Finnish choir founded in 1984 by

former members of the Tapiola Choir (an acclaimed school choir

based in Espoo, Finland). The independent, 36-member choir has re-

ceived international critical acclaim for its vocal finesse, diverse and

adventurous programming (which includes many works by Finnish

composers), and ambitious recordings. In 2005 the Synfonia Tapiola

Baroque orchestra was formed to facilitate performing music from

the 17th and 18th centuries with period instruments. From 2000

to 2005 Jaakko Mäntyjärvi served as the choir’s composer-in-

residence.

TAPIOLA CHILDREN’S CHOIR. Finnish choir founded in 1963 by

Erkki Pohjola. Through its recordings and extensive international

tours, the choir has become world renowned for its exceptional

sound.

TAVENER, [SIR] JOHN (28 JANUARY 1944– ). English composer,

who studied with Lennox Berkeley at the Royal Academy of Music.

He is known primarily for his choral works, which form the major

part of his output, numbering over 100 pieces. They range from

simple carols to monumental works with orchestral accompaniment.

Many are imbued with a profound religious mysticism.

Tavener came to prominence with the 1968 premiere of The

Whale, a dramatic cantata influenced by Igor Stravinsky and Oliv-

ier Messiaen. Further recognition came with Introit for 27th March,

the Feast of St. John Damascene, for S, A, chorus, and orch. (1968),

and Celtic Requiem, for high S, children’s chorus, chorus, and orch.

(1969), in which children’s games are juxtaposed with the requiem

text. Ultimos ritos, for Mez., 12 Bs, S, A, T, B, 5 male spkrs., chorus,

432 • TAN DUN

brass ens., orch., and tape, incorporates two earlier works, Coplas and

Nomine Jesu (both 1970), a monumental meditation on the Christian

theme of “dying to self” employing cruciform proportions and mate-

rial from the “Crucifixus” of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B

Minor. Works with similar themes include Responsorium in Memory

of Annon Lee Silver, for 2 Mez., 2 fl., and chorus (1971), and Ma fin

est mon commencement, for chorus, trbns., perc., and vcs. (1972).

In 1978 Tavener joined the Russian Orthodox Church. Thereafter

his works relied more heavily on Eastern influences such as Byzan-

tine drones and Orthodox chant, and were often characterized by

ritualistic stasis and nondevelopmental construction. Notable works

of the time include Canticle of the Mother of God, a setting of the

Magnificat in Hebrew and Greek (1976), and Liturgy of St. John

Chrysostom (1977). A great flowering of sacred choral music fol-

lowed. Selected examples include Funeral Ikos (1981); The Great

Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, for B solo and chorus (1981); Ikon of

Light, for choir and string trio (1984); the Orthodox Vigil Service, for

celebrants, chorus, and handbells (1984); Magnificat and Nunc Dim-

ittis (1986); Akathist of Thanksgiving, a large-scale work for solo vv.,

chorus, perc., org., and str. (1987); God Is with Us, for chorus and

org. (1987); The Uncreated Eros (1988); Resurrection, for solo vv.,

chorus, brass, perc., org., and str. qt. (1989); Today the Virgin Bears

a Child (1989); A Christmas Round (1990); We Shall See Him as He

Is, for S, 2 T, chorus, 2 tpt., timp., str., and org. (1992); A Village

Wedding, for ATTB (1992); The Apocalypse, for three groups: S, B,

10 tpt., 4 trbn., 2 db. trbn., gongs, and tam-tam; 7 Ct., 80 Trs., and

5 rec; and Tr., A, T, 7 groups of 7 male vv., sax., bells, str. qt., vns.,

dbs., and org. (1993); Song for Athene (1993, sung at the funeral of

Diana, Princess of Wales); Notre Père, for children’s chorus (1996);

and the monumental, seven-hour The Veil of the Temple, for soloists,

four choirs, and several orchestras (2003).

TAVERNER, JOHN (C. 1490–18 OCTOBER 1545). English com-

poser, whose music represents the culmination of pre-Reformation

English polyphony. From 1526 he served as director at Cardinal

College in Oxford (now Christ Church), where Cardinal Wolsey’s

new foundation made provision for a large choir. However, after

1529, when Cardinal Wolsey fell out of favor with Henry VIII, the

choral service declined. For a time Taverner served the parish church

TAVERNER, JOHN • 433

of St. Botolph, Boston, where the Guild of St. Mary maintained a

cathedral-sized choir of some 30 members. However, political events

interfered there, too, so that the guild’s income diminished. By 1537

Taverner had evidently retired from the position, being well enough

situated financially to continue living in the town.

His surviving choral works include eight masses (among them, the

large-scale Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas and Missa Corona spinea, both

for six voices, and the four-voice Western Wynde Mass, in which a

popular tune is used as tenor cantus firmus through 36 variations,

nine in each of four movements), some individual mass movements,

nearly a dozen votive antiphons (some fragmentary), 3 Magnificat

settings (two fragmentary), another dozen Latin sacred works, and

some 7 English adaptations of Latin works, including 2 services

based on his masses. Many of his works are grand in scale, with

florid polyphony undergirded by a cantus firmus predominating. His

simpler compositions seem to have been written in response to the

new ideological principles of Archbishop Cranmer’s reforms. See

also ENGLISH CATHEDRAL MUSIC OF THE REFORMATION

AND RESTORATION.

TCHAIKOVSKY, PIOTR ILYITCH (25 APRIL/7 MAY 1840–25

OCTOBER/6 NOVEMBER 1893). Russian composer, renowned

especially for his symphonies and ballets. In general his music is

characterized by vivid orchestration and intense lyricism, giving it an

emotional immediacy that has made it enduringly popular.

After studies in St. Petersburg (first law, then music), he taught

at the Moscow Conservatory (1866–78). While stirred by the aes-

thetic goals of “The Five,” a group of Russian nationalist composers

headed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, he developed a more cosmo-

politan personal style, which reconciled Western and Russian idioms.

For 14 years he was supported financially by Nadezhda von Meck, a

wealthy widow, allowing him to devote himself to composition and

to extensive travel.

Tchaikovsky’s choral works form a relatively small part of his out-

put. Most significant are the a cappella liturgical works composed

shortly after the emotional upheaval of his disastrous marriage in

1877: the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, op. 41 (1878); the All-

Night Vigil [Vespers], op. 52 (1881); Nine Sacred Pieces (1885);

Otche nash [Our Father] (late 1880s); and Angel vopiyashe [An

434 • TCHAIKOVSKY, PIOTR ILYITCH

Angel Cried Out] (1887). Largely homophonic in style, these works

initiated a flurry of composition for the Orthodox liturgy by Russian

composers. Tchaikovsky’s preoccupation during this time with Rus-

sian Orthodox music also led to his editing of the complete church

music of Dmytro Bortniansky (1881).

Some half-dozen of his choral works are occasional pieces; among

their number are Cantata in Commemoration of the Bicentenary of

the Birth of Peter the Great, for T, chorus, and orch. (1872); and

Moskva [Moscow], a coronation cantata for Mez., Bar., chorus, and

orch. (1883). Of some 15 additional works, most are for unaccom-

panied chorus.

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS [LAT. “WE PRAISE YOU, GOD”].

Lengthy Latin hymn of thanksgiving, sometimes called the canticle

of Ambrose and Augustine, from the medieval legend that the two

saints sang it in alternation as an improvised prayer at the baptism

of Augustine by Ambrose. In the Roman Catholic rite, it is sung at

the end of Matins on Sundays and feast days. Vernacular versions

were produced by Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer, the latter

prescribing it for Morning Prayer in the Anglican rite. Polyphonic

settings (usually for alternatim performance) were not common until

the 16th century. After 1600 many composers wrote festal settings

(often elaborate in scale, with soloists and orchestra); notable settings

include those by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1677), Marc-Antoine Char-

pentier (4 settings, c. 1670–90), Henry Purcell (1694), George

Frideric Handel (1713 and 1743), Carl Heinrich Graun (1757),

Joseph Haydn (c. 1800), Dmytro Bortniansky (14 unaccompanied

settings for single or double chorus, written after 1779), Hector

Berlioz (1855), Georges Bizet (1858), Anton Bruckner (1885),

Antonín Dvorˇák (1896), Giuseppe Verdi (1898), Charles Villiers

Stanford (1898), Arthur Sullivan (1872 and 1900), Hubert Parry

(1900 and 1911), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1928 and 1937), Zol-

tán Kodály (1936), Benjamin Britten (1934 and 1944), and Wil-

liam Walton (1953).

TELEMANN, GEORG PHILIPP (14 MARCH 1681–25 JUNE

1767). Self-taught German musician credited with being the most

prolific composer of all time. While overshadowed by Johann Sebas-

tian Bach in the judgment of history, Telemann was the more revered

TELEMANN, GEORG PHILIPP • 435

man in his day. He was influential in establishing the pre-Classical

style, with its emphasis on major tonalities, slower harmonic rhythm,

transparent counterpoint, imaginative instrumentation, and simple,

natural-sounding melodies.

His fame began early in life. Soon after he entered the University

of Leipzig as a law student in 1701, his musical gifts were discov-

ered, and he was asked to compose for the two principal churches in

Leipzig: the Nikolaikirche and the Thomaskirche. Shortly thereafter

he founded a 40-member collegium musicum, which gave public

concerts, and in 1702 he became the director of the Leipzig opera.

In 1704 he was appointed organist and music director at the New

Church, a responsibility that had previously been within the jurisdic-

tion of the Kantor of the Thomaskirche. All of these developments

undermined the work of Johann Kuhnau, the city’s music director

and Kantor of the Thomaskirche, who consequently complained to

the city council that students were abandoning him for the opera.

From 1705 to 1708 Telemann worked as Kapellmeister to Count

Erdmann II in Sorau (now Poland), where he learned to write in the

French style and where he encountered Polish and Moravian folk

music. There he also met Erdmann Neumeister, the poet who first

wrote German cantata librettos suitable for setting in the operatic

style. By the end of 1708, he was employed by Duke Johann Wilhelm

of Saxe-Eisenach. In 1712, citing a heavy workload and professional

insecurity, Telemann left the Eisenach court for the position of city

music director in Frankfurt. There his duties included providing mu-

sic for the Barfüsserkirche and the Katharinenkirche, writing music

for civic occasions, and providing musical instruction to students

(both privately and at the Latin school).

In 1721 the city of Hamburg invited him to become Kantor at the

Johanneum Lateinschule and music director of the city’s five main

churches, a post similar to the one Bach held in Leipzig. Upon his

arrival he immediately began giving independent public concerts. He

started directing a collegium musicum once again, and in 1722 began

working as the director of the Opera. When his activities met with

opposition from some church officials, he successfully applied for

the post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, which had become vacant with

Kuhnau’s death. However, upon receiving a pay raise from the Ham-

burg officials, Telemann elected not to move. His continued impulse

for self-determination led to numerous legal battles for the right to

436 • TELEMANN, GEORG PHILIPP

sell printed texts of his Passions and other works, as well as the right

to accept ancillary positions at the courts of Bayreuth and Eisenach.

By thus refusing to be restricted to his official duties, he helped de-

fine new paths of autonomy for later generations of composers.

Telemann’s productivity was unrivaled. In Hamburg he was re-

quired to write two cantatas per week, cantatas for civic occasions, a

Passion each year, an oratorio and a secular serenata for the yearly

celebrations of the Hamburg militia commandant (Kapitänsmusik), as

well as instrumental and operatic works. While Bach reportedly com-

posed five liturgical cycles of cantatas, Telemann wrote at least 20

(over half of which survive more or less complete), publishing four

of them as well as the arias from a fifth cycle. In all, about 1,400 can-

tatas survive, encompassing a wide variety of styles and forms. His

surviving Passions include 23 liturgical Passions (biblical accounts

of the Passion mixed with chorales and free poetry) and 6 Passion

oratorios (oratorios with freely written librettos), the 3 most famous

of the latter type being his Brockes-Passion, Seliges Erwägen, and

Der Tod Jesu. Other surviving oratorios include 9 oratorio-serenata

pairs for the militia commandant and 10 other oratorios on allegorical

texts (intended for public performance in a secular setting).

Telemann’s other extant sacred music, much of it apparently

written before he moved to Hamburg, includes some 15 German

and Latin motets (mostly for SATB voices and continuo), some 30

German and Latin psalm settings (for one to four voices with instru-

ments, covering a wide variety of styles, forms, and instrumenta-

tions), a few masses (some chorale-based), and a Latin Magnificat.

His surviving secular music includes cantatas (mostly for solo voice)

and 9 complete operas.

TENEBRAE [LAT. “DARKNESS”]. A special divine office combin-

ing Matins and Lauds for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Holy

Week, often held on the preceding evenings of these days. Fifteen

psalms are sung, a candle being extinguished after each one. From

the 15th century on, texts frequently chosen for polyphonic setting

included ones from the Lamentations of Jeremiah (assigned to Mat-

ins), and the Benedictus and Miserere (assigned to Lauds).

THEODORAKIS, MIKIS (29 JULY 1925– ). Greek composer. After

imprisonment and exile for helping the communist side in the Greek

Civil War, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers

THEODORAKIS, MIKIS • 437

included Olivier Messiaen. He returned to Greece in 1960, but was

exiled again when the country fell under military rule in 1967. Only

after the junta fell in 1974 was he able to return to his homeland.

Theodorakis’s music combines popular and Greek idioms with

Western tonal elements. Among his choral works are unaccompa-

nied liturgical works for the Greek Orthodox Church and large-scale

works with soloists and orchestra. Examples include Tropario tis

Kassianis [Kassiani’s Hymn], for divisi SATB (1942); the oratorio

3e tou dekembre [Third of December] (1945); Symphony no. 3, for

Mez., vv., and orch. (1945–81); Symphony no. 2 [The Song of the

Earth], for orch., pf., and chbr. vv. (1981); Kata Saddoukaion pathe

[Sadducees Passion], a cantata for actor, B, T, Bar., B, vv., and

orch. (1982); Leitourgia tou agiou ioannou tou chrysostomou [missa

greca], for cantor, nar., and SATB (1982); Symphony no. 7 (Spring

Symphony), for S, Mez., T, B, vv., and orch. (1983); Akolouthia eis

kekoimimenous, a nonliturgical Requiem employing the traditional

text of John of Damascus, for S, 2 Mez., T, Bar., vv., and ch. org.

(1984); and Symphony no. 4 (Symphony of Choral Odes), for S, A,

nar., vc., vv., and orch. (1987).

THOMANERCHOR LEIPZIG. All-male choir of the Leipzig Thom-

askirche. Founded in 1212, it is the city’s oldest cultural institution.

After the Reformation, the choir’s fame grew, making Leipzig the

center of Protestant church music in Germany. The choir’s most

illustrious choirmaster was Johann Sebastian Bach (who served

1723–50). Important directors before him included Johann Her-

mann Schein (1616–30), Sebastian Knüpfer (1657–76), Johann

Schelle (1677–1701), and Johann Kuhnau (1701–22). Noteworthy

directors since Bach’s time have included Johann Friedrich Doles

(1756–89), A. E. Müller (1804–9), Moritz Hauptmann (1842–68),

Gustav Ernst Schreck (1893–1918), Karl Straube (1918–39), Gün-

ther Ramin (1940–56), Kurt Thomas (1957–60), Erhard Mauers-

berger (1961–72), Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1972–91), and Georg

Biller (since 1992).

Müller was responsible for resurrecting Bach’s vocal composi-

tions (which had fallen into disuse), while Hauptmann and Schreck

expanded the activities of the choir beyond the Sunday service, mak-

ing it an ensemble of national standing. International tours and radio

broadcasts under Karl Straube (1918–39) further extended the choir’s

438 • THOMANERCHOR LEIPZIG

reputation. Today the choir is 80 voices strong and continues the

traditions established during the 20th century: weekly performances

of Bach’s cantatas and motets at Saturday Vespers, annual perfor-

mances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Passions, recordings,

radio and television broadcasts, and international concert tours.

THOMAS, KURT (25 MAY 1904–31 MARCH 1973). German

choral conductor, teacher of choral conducting, and composer. He

held various positions in Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Detmold,

before becoming Kantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig (1955–61).

He subsequently left East Germany, resuming a former position at

Frankfurt’s Dreikönigskirche, and becoming director of the Frankfurt

Kantorei and the Cologne Bachverein.

Before World War II Thomas was active as a composer, providing

models of works in post-Reformation forms for the German Protes-

tant church renewal movement. Thereafter, he was most influential

as a choral conductor and choral pedagogue. Particularly noteworthy

is his Lehrbuch der Chorleitung (Handbook of Choral Directing,

1935–48).

His choral compositions include an unaccompanied Latin Mass

(1925), a St. Mark Passion (1926), the cantata Jerusalem, du hoch-

gebaute Stadt (1929), Auferstehungs-Oratorium (1934), the oratorio

Saat und Ernte (1938), motets (among which are settings of Psalms

137 and 150), and some secular works.

THOMPSON, RANDALL (21 APRIL 1899–9 JULY 1984). Ameri-

can composer and educator. After studies with Archibald T. Davi-

son and others at Harvard University (AB 1920, MA 1922), and with

Ernest Bloch in New York, he took lessons with Gian Francesco

Malipiero in Italy. He subsequently held academic positions at sev-

eral prestigious institutions: Wellesley College (1927–29), Univer-

sity of California at Berkeley (1937–39), Curtis Institute (1939–41),

University of Virginia (1941–46), Princeton University (1946–48),

and Harvard University (1948–65).

Thompson is best remembered for his many choral works, most

of which were written on commission and intended for concert per-

formance. His music is characterized by an expressive immediacy,

achieved through diatonic harmonies enriched with modal inflec-

tions, vocally oriented melodic lines, effective sonorities, sensitive

THOMPSON, RANDALL • 439

text-setting, well-placed dramatic climaxes, and occasional hu-

mor—all of which have contributed to a widespread appeal. Among

his most often-performed choral works are Pueri hebraeorum, for 8

female vv. (1928); Americana (from The American Mercury), for 4–8

vv. and pf. (1932, orchd. 1940); The Peaceable Kingdom, for 4–8 vv.

(1936); Tarantella, for male vv. and pf./orch. (1937); Alleluia, for

4 vv. (1940); The Testament of Freedom, for 4 male/mixed vv. and

pf./orch./band (1943); The Last Words of David, for 4 mixed/male

vv. and orch./pf. (1949); Frostiana, a cycle of 7 partsongs on texts

by Robert Frost, for various combinations of voices and pf./orch.

(1959); The Best of Rooms, for 4 vv. (1963); and A Concord Cantata,

for 4 vv. and pf./orch. (1975). He also wrote a Requiem for 4–12 vv.

(1958) and a St. Luke Passion (oratorio in 10 scenes), for 2 solo vv.,

4 vv., and orch. (1965).

THOMSON, VIRGIL (25 NOVEMBER 1896–30 SEPTEMBER

1989). American composer and critic. While a student at Harvard

University, he worked as assistant and accompanist for Archibald

T. Davison, director of the Harvard Glee Club. From 1925 to 1940

he lived mostly in Paris, where he was associated with Les Six and

Gertrude Stein. Upon returning to the United States, he worked as

music critic for the New York Herald-Tribune (1940–54).

As a composer, he was most influenced by Erik Satie; while he

employed a range of successive styles, he consistently emulated

Satie’s unpretentiousness, meticulousness, directness of expression,

and wit. Thomson did not consider himself religious; nevertheless,

many of his choral works are sacred. Diverse examples of more than

30 choral works (comprising more than 45 individual pieces) include

a Requiem for double chorus and orch. (1960); The Nativity as Sung

by the Shepherds, for A, T, B, SATB, and orch. (1967); and Hymns

from the Old South, for SATB/SSA (1949)—the most well known of

the latter collection being “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.”

THOROUGHBASS. See BASSO CONTINUO.

THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL. See CHORAL FESTIVALS.

TIN PAN ALLEY. A group of New York City-centered music pub-

lishers and songwriters dominating American popular music in the

late 1800s and early 1900s. Among the most famous composers were

Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Cole Porter.

440 • THOMSON, VIRGIL

TINCTORIS, JOHANNES (C. 1435–BEFORE 12 OCTOBER

1511). Franco-Flemish theorist and composer. Around 1460 he

was employed briefly at Cambrai Cathedral, where he doubtlessly

had contact with Guillaume Dufay. By 1472 he was serving at the

court of Ferdinand I of Naples, tutoring the king’s daughter, Beatrice.

Little is known about the last 20 years of his life.

He is best remembered for a dozen theoretical works, among

them, Terminorum musicae diffinitorium, a dictionary of musical

terms, written about 1473. His other treatises are significant for their

detailed discussions of notation, counterpoint, philosophical mat-

ters, and the music of his day (in particular, the works of Antoine

Busnoys and Jean de Ockeghem).

Tinctoris’s own compositions show considerable skill. Extant are

four masses, among them, two for three voices (written in high and

low clefs, respectively), a four-voice mass without Kyrie and Agnus

Dei, and his most celebrated work, a Missa L’homme armé for four

voices. Also surviving are a set of Lamentations for four voices,

and a few motets. Of some 10 secular pieces, half are for two voices.

They are evidently instructional pieces, for some of them appear as

examples in his treatises.

TIPPETT, [SIR] MICHAEL (2 JANUARY 1905–8 JANUARY

1998). English composer. From 1923 to 1928 he studied at the Royal

College of Music, where his teachers included Charles Wood. Hav-

ing been influenced toward social activism by his family upbringing,

he became involved in left-wing causes during the economic depres-

sion of the 1930s. During World War II he was an uncompromising

pacifist. Meanwhile, in working through issues of personal identity,

he was drawn toward Jungian psychology.

As a composer Tippett developed slowly. By the late 1930s he had

reached a highly individual style that drew on music of the past—in

particular, on elements of the English Renaissance and the Baroque.

Characterized by diatonic-modal harmonies, lyricism, polyphonic

textures, and lilting, prosodic rhythms, his style grew out of a convic-

tion that the role of art in the modern world is to heal the human psyche

from the damage done by scientific rationalism and mass technology.

While he modified his style later on, he held a lifelong preoccupation

with counterpoint, and he remained open to other cultural traditions

(e.g., American popular styles and genres, including jazz).

TIPPETT, [SIR] MICHAEL • 441