John Dowland

John Dowland (1563 - buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist.

John Dowland (1563-1626) by Wiegand. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Life

Youth and education

Dowland is said by Thomas Fuller, on hearsay evidence, to have been born at Westminster. But in his own Pilgrimes Solace’(1612) is a song dedicated "to my louing countreyman, Mr. John Forster the younger, merchant of Dublin in Ireland," from which it might be understood that the composer was an Irishman. Irish historian W.H. Grattan Flood claimed that he was born in Dalkey, near Dublin, but no corroborating evidence has ever been found either for that statement or for Fuller's claim that he was born in Westminster.

He seems to have been born in 1563, for in his Observations belonging to Lute-playing, appended to his son Robert's Varietie of Lute-lessons (1610), after mentioning a work by Gerle that appeared in 1533, he goes on: "Myselfe was borne but thirty yeares after Hans Gerle's booke was printed," and in the address to the reader in his Pilgrimes Solace (1612) he says, "I am now entered into the fiftieth yeare of mine age."

Career

About 1581 he went abroad, proceeding to France and then to Germany, where he was well received by the Duke of Brunswick and the landgrave of Hesse. At the court of the former he became acquainted with Gregory Howet of Antwerp, and at that of the latter with Alessandrio Orologio—both noted musicians of their day. After spending some months in Germany, Dowland went to Italy, where he was received with much favour at Venice, Padua, Genoa, Ferrara, Florence, and other cities. At Venice in particular he made friends with Giovanni Croce. Luca Marenzio — the greatest madrigal writer of his day — wrote to him from Rome; his letter, dated 13 July 1595, is printed in the prefatory address to Dowland's debut Book of Songes.

Dowland seems to have made several journeys on the continent. He was married and had children, as referenced in his letter to Sir Robert Cecil, but family life does not seem to have been important to him, as his wife stayed in England while he worked on the Continent. His son Robert Dowland was also a musician, working for some time in the service of the 1st Earl of Devonshire, and taking over his father's position of lutenist at court when John died.

In 1592 he contributed some harmonized psalm-tunes to Este's Psalter. He must have gone abroad again, for the album of Johann Cellarius of Nürnberg (1580–1619), written towards the end of the 16th century, contains a few bars of his celebrated "Lachrymæ," signed by him. In this his name is spelt "Doland" (Addit. MS. 27579).

In 1596 some lute pieces by him appeared in Barley's New Booke of Tabliture. This was apparently unauthorised, for Dowland alludes to "diuers lute lessons of mine lately printed without my knowledge, falce and unperfect," in the prefatory address to the First Booke of Songes or Ayres of Foure Partes, with Tableture for the Lute, which was published by Peter Short in 1597. This collection immediately achieved greater popularity than any musical work which had hitherto appeared in England. A 2nd edition (printed by P. Short, the assignee of T. Morley) appeared in 1600; a 3rd, printed by Humfrey Lownes, in 1606; a 4th in 1608; and a 5th in 1613.

In 1598, when he was at the height of his fame, appeared Richard Barnfield's sonnet "In praise of Musique and Poetrie," in which he is celebrated thus:

Dowland to thee is deare; whose heauenly tuch

Vpon the Lute, doeth rauish humaine sense.

Dowland must have left England in 1599, for in 1600 he published the Second Booke of Songs or Ayres, of 2. 4. and 5. parts: With Tableture for the Lute or Orpherian, with the Violl de Gamba, on the title-page of which he is described as lutenist to the king of Denmark. The preface to this work, which is dedicated to Lucy, countess of Bedford, is dated "From Helsingnoure in Denmarke, the first of June." This was followed (in 1603) by the Third and Last Booke of Songs or Aires. Newly composed to sing to the Lute, Orpharion, or Viols, and a Dialogue for a base and meane Lute with fiue voices to sing thereto. In the dedicatory epistle to this work he alludes to his being still abroad.

He was in England in 1605, when he published his extremely rare Lachrymæ, or Seven Teares, figured in seaven passionate Pavans, dedicated to Anne of Denmark. It seems from the preface to this that he had been driven back by storms on his return to Denmark, and forced to winter in England.

He had finally left Denmark in 1609, when he was living in Fetter Lane. He published in this year a translation of the Micrologus of Andreas Ornithoparcus, which he dedicated to the Earl of Salisbury. In the translator's address to the reader he promises a work on the lute, which is also alluded to by his son Robert in the preface to his Varietie of Lute-lessons (1610). To this latter work John Dowland appended a "Short Treatise on Lute-playing."

Personality

Dowland's music often displays the melancholia that was so fashionable in music at that time. He wrote a consort piece with the punning title "Semper Dowland, semper dolens" (always Dowland, always doleful), which may be said to sum up much of his work. Dowland's melancholic lyrics and music have often been described as his attempts to develop an "artistic persona" though he was actually a cheerful person, but many of his own personal complaints, and the tone of bitterness in many of his comments, suggest that much of his music and his melancholy truly did come from his own personality and frustration.

Fuller says he was "a chearful person … passing his days in lawful meriment;" but Fuller's account is very inaccurate, and he probably invented the remark to illustrate a well-known anagram which was made on Dowland, and which is to be found in several contemporary books:

Iohannes Doulandus.

Annos ludendo hausi.

Fuller attributes this to a Ralph Sadler of Standon, who was with Dowland at Copenhagen, but it is claimed by Peacham in his Minerva Britanna, and is also to be found in Camden's Remains.

Last years

In 1612 appeared Dowland's last work, A Pilgrimes Solace: Wherein is contained Musicall Harmonie of 3. 4. and 5. parts, to be sung and plaid with the Lute and Viols. In this he is described as lutenist to Lord Walden (eldest son of the Earl of Suffolk). In the preface he complains of neglect. "I haue lien long obscured from your sight, because I receued a kingly entertainment in a forraine climate, which could not attaine to any (though neuer so meane) place at home." He had returned to find himself almost forgotten, and a new school of lute-players had arisen who looked upon him as old-fashioned. Peacham, in his Minerva Britanna (1612), alludes to this neglect. He compares Dowland to a nightingale sitting on a briar in the depth of winter:

So since (old frend), thy yeares haue made thee white,
And thou for others, hast consum'd thy spring
How few regard thee, whome thou didst delight,
And farre, and neere, came once to heare thee sing:
Ingratefull times, and worthles age of ours,
That let's vs pine, when it hath cropt our flowers.

Sir William Leighton's Teares (1614) contains a few compositions by Dowland, but his latter years were passed in obscurity. He was (according to Rimbault) in 1625 a lutenist to Charles I; he died either in that year or early in 1626, as is proved by the warrant to his son Robert, though the exact date and place of his death and burial are unknown.

Writing

Songs

It is not difficult to account for the popularity of Dowland's First Booke of Songes, for its appearance marks a new departure in English music, which eventually led to that peculiarly national product, the glee. Dowland's songs are not madrigals, but simply harmonised tunes; they are not remarkable for contrapuntal skill; their charm and vitality consists entirely in their perfect melodic beauty, which causes them still to be sung more than the compositions of any other Elizabethan composer.

The 2 major influences on Dowland's music were the popular consort songs, and the dance music of the day. Most of Dowland's music is for his own instrument, the lute. It includes several books of solo lute works, lute songs (for single voice and lute), part-songs with lute accompaniment, and several pieces for viol consort with lute.

One of his better known works is the lute song "Flow my tears", the opening verse of which runs:

Flow my tears, fall from your springs,
Exil'd for ever let me mourn;
Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.

—John Dowland, 

In the preface to his Pilgrimes Solace Dowland says that his works had been printed at Paris, Antwerp, Cologne, Nürnberg, Frankfort, Leipzig, Amsterdam, and Hamburg. None of these foreign editions are known, but some of his music occurs in Füllsack and Hildebrand's Ausserlesener Paduanen vnd Galliarden. Erster Theil, which appeared at Hamburg in 1607. Much manuscript music by him, chiefly consisting of lute lessons, is to be found in the British Museum, Christ Church (Oxford), Fitzwilliam, and University (Cambridge) Libraries.

Other

In 1598 Dowland contributed a short eulogistic poem to Giles Farnaby's canzonets. In 1599 a sonnet by Dowland appeared prefixed to Richard Allison's Psalms.

Recognition

On 8 July 1588 the degree of Mus. Bac. was conferred on Dowland and Thomas Morley at Oxford. He seems to have received the same degree at Cambridge, some time before 1597, but there is no extant record of it, or of his having ever proceeded Mus. Doc., though he was sometimes called "Dr. Dowland" by his contemporaries.

Dowland's First Booke of Songes was reprinted in score by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1844.

A 20th century musician who successfully helped reclaim Dowland from the history books was singer-songwriter Frederick Keel. Keel included 15 different Dowland pieces in his 2 sets of Elizabethan love songs published in 1909 and 1913, which achieved popularity in their day. These free arrangements for piano and low or high voice were intended to fit the tastes and musical practices associated with art songs of the time.

In 1935, Australian-born composer Percy Grainger, who also had a deep interest in music made before Bach, arranged Dowland’s Now, O now I needs must part for piano. Some years later, in 1953, Grainger wrote a work titled Bell Piece (Ramble on John Dowland’s ‘Now, O now I needs must part’), which was a version scored for voice and wind band, based in his previously mentioned transcription.

In 1951 famous counter-tenor Alfred Deller (1912-1979), recorded songs by John Dowland, Thomas Campion, and Philip Rosseter with the label HMV (His Master's Voice) HMV C.4178 and another HMV C.4236 of Dowland's "Flow my Tears". In 1977, Harmonia Mundi also published 2 records of Deller singing Dowland's Lute songs (HM 244&245-H244/246).

Dowland's song, "Come Heavy Sleepe, the Image of True Death", was the inspiration for Benjamin Britten's "Nocturnal after John Dowland for guitar", written in 1964 for guitarist Julian Bream. This work consists of 8 variations, all based on musical themes drawn from the song or its lute accompaniment, finally resolving into a guitar setting of the song itself.

Dowland's music became part of the repertoire of the early music revival with lutenist Julian Bream and tenor Peter Pears, and later with Christopher Hogwood and David Munrow and the Early Music Consort in the late 1960s and later with the Academy of Ancient Music from the early 1970s.

Jan Akkerman, guitarist of the Dutch progressive rock band Focus, recorded "Tabernakel" in 1973 (though released in 1974), an album of John Dowland songs and some original material, performed on lute.

The Collected Lute Music of John Dowland with lute tablature and keyboard notation has been transcribed and edited by Diana Poulton and Basil Lam, Faber Music Limited, London 1974.

The complete works of Dowland have been recorded in a boxed set by the Consort of Musicke.

1999 ECM New Series recording In Darkness Let Me Dwell features new interpretations of Dowland songs performed by tenor John Potter]], lutenist Stephen Stubbs, and baroque violinist Maya Homburger in collaboration with English jazz musicians John Surman and Barry Guy.

Nigel North recorded Dowland's complete works for solo lute on four CDs between 2004 and 2007.

Elvis Costello included a recording (with Fretwork and the Composers Ensemble) of Dowland's "Can she excuse my wrongs" as a bonus track on the 2006 re-release of his The Juliet Letters.

In October 2006, Sting, who says he has been fascinated by the music of John Dowland for 25 years, released an album featuring Dowland's songs titled Songs from the Labyrinth, on Deutsche Grammophon, in collaboration with Edin Karamazov on lute and archlute. They described their treatment of Dowland's work in a Great Performances appearance. To give some idea of the tone and intrigues of life in late Elizabethan England, Sting also recites throughout the album portions of a 1593 letter written by Dowland to Sir Robert Cecil. The letter describes Dowland's travels to various points of Western Europe, then breaks into a detailed account of his activities in Italy, along with a heartfelt denial of the charges of treason whispered against him by unknown persons. Dowland most likely was suspected of this for traveling to the courts of various Catholic monarchs and accepting payment from them greater than what a musician of the time would normally have received for performing.

Other interpretations of Dowland's songs have been recorded by Windham Hill artist, Lisa Lynne, (for her CD, Maiden's Prayer) and Lise Winne (for her Wing'd With Hopes, New Interpretations of Renaissance Songs CD). Several bands, such as Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, Aesma Daeva and Qntal, have recorded albums featuring lyrics by John Dowland. The countertenor Andreas Scholl sings in Crystal Tears English consort songs with Concerto Viole of Basel. A rendition of Dowland's "Come again" (sung by Sting) can also be found on Joshua Bell's 2009 album, At home with Friends.

In popular culture

• Science fiction author Philip K. Dick was a fan of Dowland's and his lute music is a recurring theme in Dick's novels. Dick sometimes assumed the pen-name Jack Dowland. Dick also based the title of the novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said on one of Dowland's best-known compositions. In his novel The Divine Invasion, the character Linda Fox (a thinly disguised proxy for Linda Ronstadt) is a popular singer whose repertoire consists of remakes of John Dowland compositions.
• Rose Tremain's 1999 novel Music and Silence is set at the court of Christian IV of Denmark some years after Dowland's departure and contains several references to the composer's music and temperament: in the opening chapter, Christian remarks that "the man was all ambition and hatred, yet his ayres were as delicate as rain".
• Aesma Daeva's song "Darkness" uses "Flow my Tears" as lyrics.
• Both Dowland and Thomas Tallis are referenced in the Half Man Half Biscuit song, "I went to a wedding".
• Dowland is referenced in the Big Big Train song "Reaching for John Dowland" on their album English Boy Wonders.

See also

John Dowland (1563-1626) Come again sweet love

• List of English-language songwriters

References

• New Oxford History of Music, Volume IV: The Age of Humanism 1540-1630 (edited by Gerald Abraham). Oxford University Press, 1968.
• Douglas Alton Smith, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Lute Society of America, 2002. ISBN 0-9714071-0-X
• Peter Holman & Paul O'Dette: "John Dowland", Grove Music Online (edited by L. Macy), Web, July 10, 2007, (subscription access)
• Collected Lute Music of John Dowland (edited by Diana Poulton). 2nd edition, Faber Music, 1978. ISBN 0-571-10024-4.
• Diana Poulton, John Dowland. 2nd edition, Faber & Faber, 1982. ISBN 0-520-04687-0.
• Matthew Spring, The Lute in Britain: A History of the Instrument and its Music. Oxford University Press, 2001.
•  Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888) "Dowland, John" Dictionary of National Biography 15 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 387-388}last=Squire  . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 26, 2020.
• Peter Warlock,The English Ayre. Greenwood Press, 1970. (Originally published London: Oxford University Press, 1926. ISBN 8371-4237-7.

External links

Poem

• Dowlan, John (1563-1626) (1 lyric) at Representative Poetry Online
• John Dowland 1563-1626 at the Poetry Foundation
• John Dowland at PoemHunter (7 poems)

Audio / video

• Some video performances of John Dowland's songs by Valeria Mignaco, soprano & Alfonso Marin, lute
• Four Pieces by John Dowland performed by lutenist Brian Wright
• John Dowland's Come Again sung by male alto Russell Oberlin

Books

• Works by John Dowland at Project Gutenberg
• John Dowland at Amazon.com

About

• John Dowland at NNDB
• John Dowland Official website, containing videos, essays, and scores.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Dowland, John