Thomas Tomkins - My shepherd is the living Lord. Worcester Cathedral choir

[molealto]

Hmmm. Wonder if the opening verse has ever been allocated to a tenor? (Agree the second one is definitely alto).

[seandingley]

@molealto Of course you are assuming that a) This is at the correct pitch and b) that there were altos! My educated guess would be that this has been increased in pitch and that it was originally written for tenor. Even at this pitch it would be more comfortable for a tenor than a male alto!

[molealto]

@seandingley Right on both counts. Research I've read says different things about different places - some choirs had what we'd call "altos", others didn't.