With a style that harked back to contrapuntal forms of Byrd and Gibbons, the English composer Thomas Tomkins was appointed a member of the Chapel Royal in 1620 and served for many years as master of the choristers and organist at Worcester Cathedral, until 1646, when the musical establishment there was disbanded and the organ removed by the Puritans.

A pupil of Byrd, Tomkins wrote a large quantity of music for the services of the Church of England, works collected and published posthumously in 1668 under the title Musica Deo Sacra. His compositions include madrigals, keyboard works and consort music, which continue the tradition of the earlier years of the seventeenth century. The present release includes anthems, canticles for Evensong and works for keyboard.