Hymn tune

THIRD MODE MELODY

THIRD MODE MELODY is a hymn tune in Common Meter Double (8.6.8.6 D), composed by Thomas Tallis (1505–1585). In a hymnal the tune has a name of its own, printed in capitals, because the same music carries many texts: any hymn written in its meter can be sung to it.

12 hymns in this library share its meter and can be sung to it.

The four-part harmony played here comes from the Open Hymnal Project's public-domain edition (copied from "The English Hymnal", 1906, Hymn 92. The original, the third tune from Archbishop Parker's Psalter, is set to have the Tenors carry the Melody. It looks as if someone, likely R.V. Williams, reset it to allow sopranos to carry the melody. this is tuned down 2 semitones and sped up from the English Hymnal version. Slur usage changed per text author.). Choose any text below and press play to hear the words sung to THIRD MODE MELODY, with the lines highlighted as they come — on organ, piano or guitar, in any key.

More by Thomas Tallis · All Common Meter Double (8.6.8.6 D) hymns and tunes

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Other texts in the same meter