In Nomine

The In Nomine was a uniquely English type of instrumental fantasy, always based on the plainchant Gloria Tibi Trinitas. One instrument plays this melody as a canto fermo, usually in the alto part. The other parts play more complex lines in imitative counterpoint. Usually they take up several new motifs in turn, using each as a point of imitation. This was essentially consort music for four or five instrumental voices, but was sometimes adapted for keyboard.

Plainchant 'Gloria Tibi Trinitas'

Click on the graphic to hear this theme.

The form originated in the mid-sixteenth century from John Taverner's mass on Gloria Tibi Trinitas. In the Benedictus section, the words "in nomine Domini" were set in four part counterpoint with the plainchant melody in the alto. At a time when there was little published music for viol consorts, this attractive passage became popular as a short piece and was used as the model for a new type of composition.

Examples of the In Nomine by:

  • Richard Allwood  A version with the theme in the alto, played on a small organ.

  • Richard Allwood  .... and a companion piece with the theme in the tenor part.

  • Richard Allwood  Played here by four viols, but based on the arrangement for organ in the Mulliner Book. It is unusual in using only the first part of the theme, repeated many times in the alto.

    Unfortunately, most of the MIDI files on this page are tuned in the 12-tone equal temperament system; this is the default tuning for modern keyboard instruments and computer sound cards, but was only invented in the late 18th century. Various meantone tunings were used in the renaissance and baroque periods, and music of these periods should optimally be heard in an historically appropiate tuning. Here is an organ version of the same composition played in quarter-comma meantone using the MIDI tuning technique developed by John Sankey.

  • John Bull   No. 37 in the FitzWilliam Virginal Book, with the canto fermo above two other voices that alternate between polyphonic and homophonic textures. Played on a harpsichord tuned in quarter-comma meantone.

  • William Byrd  A definitive example for four viols.

  • William Byrd  ... and another, with the same instrumentation but a different approach.

  • Orlando Gibbons  Later, more complex, examples for four viols ...

  • Orlando Gibbons  .... and for five viols. Here is an organ arrangement of the same piece, sequenced in quarter-comma meantone.

  • Robert Johnson  The emphasis on the lower voices in a viol quartet gives this one a darker mood.

  • Robert Johnson  For five voices. The parts overlap so much that a mixed consort seems indicated: in this instance three viols, hautbois and cornett.

  • Thomas Tallis  Played by cornett, shawm and serpent with a portative organ taking the canto fermo.

  • Thomas Tallis  Another, played here by a consort of four viols.

  • John Taverner  An organ arrangement from the Mulliner Book.

  • Robert White  I think this piece for four viols has a particularly exultant mood.

The illustration above is by by courtesy of Diarmuid Pigott, a contemporary Australian composer whose works include a fantasia on the In Nomine theme.

A very short discography

  • Rose Consort of Viols. Orlando Gibbons - Consort and Keyboard Music, Songs and Anthems. Naxos 8.550603; includes an In Nomine for four viols.
  • Rose Consort of Viols. Elizabethan Songs and Consort Music. Naxos 8.554284; includes In Nomines by Tallis, Taverner and Tye.
  • Rose Consort of Viols. Henry Purcell - Fantazias. Naxos 8.553957; includes six- and seven-part In Nomines.
  • Joseph Payne. Early English Organ Music, Volume 2. Naxos 8.550719; includes two In Nomines by John Bull.
Back to music page
Home