Thomas Tallis- If ye Love Me

This song was written for an unaccompanied choir consisting of Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. The text comes from The New Testament, and it is sometimes described as a Motet. This is because the words are heard very clearly by all the parts and the piece is religious (because of the text used). The piece is in 4/4 and is roughly Andante (75 crotchet beats per minute). It is through-composed, because the phrases all have different melodies. The piece is all legato, which works well for a church setting, where the piece would usually be performed, because it fits the calm mood of the service and also allows for easier comprehension of the text, because it is slow and legato, so people can more easily hear the words.
The piece is in E major, and begins with the tonic chord. In the first bar, the word Love is emphasised because 3 out of the 4 parts suddenly ascend (though with varying sizes of interval). From bar 5 the parts then imitate each other, and when it says 'pray' ("I will pray the father"), word painting is used because the parts jump up, as though the person is rising up to heaven, to God when they pray. On the word comforter, the parts come to a sort of cadence which lands back on the tonic, which reflects the word, because it is comforting to come to a resting/"homely" point. In bars 14-16, all the parts have a staggered entry. In bars 19-26/27, each part says the words "ev'n the sp'rit of truth" three times. This technique of the use of 3 dates back to the Medieval period when it was used ubiquitously in Sacred music, because it represents the Holy Trinity, arguably the centre of Christianity. The piece begins soft, then in about the 4th bar the piece gets louder. This happens again in about bar 9, and then diminuendos again in bar 13 for the end of the phrase.