The 'Mommy Porn' Music From Fifty Shades Of Grey

 In the last year, millions of American women have been swept away by E L James's (aka Erika Leonard) vividly descriptive erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey. OTR suspects this new BDSM fan fiction piece would curl the ears of his generation, a group that came of age as they passed around dog-eared copies of Lady Chatterley's Lover. In addition, he's not likely to read Grey or its two sequels or view the film currently caught up in the usual Hollywood rights war. On the other hand, he will listen to more 16th century music because of this book.

It seems that James has aroused many of her readers to listen to a motet, Spem In Aliam ( translated from Latin as 'Hope in any other'), composed by Thomas Tallis around 1570. The piece plays a significant role in the book and it has had nothing less than a sensational rise up the charts in Britain. Today's article in The Telegraph has the details. An earlier article has more about the composer.

And here for your enjoyment is Spem In Alium performed by the Tallis Scholars:

BTW the piece reached #5 on the iTunes Classical Music Chart this week and #1 in Amazon's classical vocal-non opera category.