Spem in alium  Spem in alium (Latin for "Hope in any other") is a 40-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. It is considered by some critics to be the greatest piece of English early music. Collins described it in 1929 as Tallis's "crowning achievement", along with his "Lamentations". The early history of the work is obscure, although there are some clues as to where it may have been first performed. It is listed in a catalogue of the library at Nonsuch Palace, a royal palace that was sold in the 1550s to the Earl of Arundel, before returning to the crown in the 1590s. The listing, dating from 1596, describes it as "a song of fortie partes, made by Mr. Tallys". The earliest surviving manuscripts are those prepared in 1610 for the investiture as Prince of Wales of Henry Frederick, the son of James I. A 1611 commonplace book written by the law student Thomas Wateridge contains the following anecdote:  In Queen Elizabeths time yere was à songe sen[t] into England in 30 p[art]s (whence ye Italians obteyned ye name to be called ye Apices of ye world) wch beeinge Songe mad[e] a heavenly Harmony. The Duke of — bearinge à great love to Musicke asked whether none of our English men could sett as good à songe, and Tallice beeinge very skilfull was felt to try whether he would undertake ye matter, wch he did & made one of 40 p[ar]tes wch was songe in the longe gallery at Arundell house, wch so farre surpassed ye other that the Duke, hearinge yt songe, tooke his chayne of Gold fro[m] his necke & putt yt about Tallice his necke & gave yt him (wch songe was againe songe at ye Princes coronation). Supposing the "30" to be a mistake, the Italian song referred to has been argued to be either the 40-part motet "Ecce beatam lucem" or the 40–60-voice mass "Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno", both by Alessandro Striggio, who is known to have visited London in June 1567 after a trip through Europe during which he arranged other performances of "Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno".