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\u2018A queer, mad work by an odd fellow from Chelsea.\u2019 Herbert Brewer\u2019s comment on hearing the premiere of Vaughan Williams\u2019s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis<\/em><\/a> undoubtedly ranks as one of the more flippantly dismissive put-downs in music history.<\/strong><\/p> Brewer was the organist at Gloucester Cathedral, where the Fantasia was first performed on 6 September, 1910 as part of the Three Choirs Festival. The new work was a Festival commission, and a large audience of 2,000 was present, mainly because Edward Elgar<\/strong><\/a> was conducting his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius<\/em><\/strong><\/a> in the second half of the concert.<\/p> While Elgar drew heavily on the orchestral palette of 19th-century composers such as Wagner<\/strong><\/a> and Richard Strauss<\/strong><\/a>, Vaughan Williams looked much further back in time for his inspiration. As co-editor of The English Hymnal<\/em> (published in 1906) he had come across a set of tunes by the English Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis<\/strong><\/a>, written for the Archbishop of Canterbury\u2019s Psalter (1567). One in particular caught Vaughan Williams\u2019s attention \u2013 the tune to Psalm 2, \u2018Why fumeth in sight: The Gentils spite, In fury raging stout?\u2019<\/p> It drew on music from down the ages<\/h3>