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John Dowland: Complete Lute Works, vol. 1 64:12
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Album Notes
Given Dowland's penchant for witty titles, it is perhaps odd to begin the first
volume of his collected lute music with an untitled piece; however, this
delightful work shows Dowland at his lyrical and enigmatic best. This piece
is probably an arrangement of a now-lost song for lute and voice; it does not
correspond to any known dance form, but it resembles songs from the First,
Second and Third Bookes of Ayres. Another hint that it may be an arrangement
is that it is uncharacteristically awkward on the instrument. Dowland's lute
music is often technically demanding, but is rarely awkward. Indeed, one of
its most appealing aspects is his ability to stretch the technical limits of
the instrument in a natural and idiomatic way. Perhaps this arrangement was
only meant as a kind of composing score to be fleshed out at a later date.
The final version, if there ever was one is, alas, lost.
The splendid Pavan that follows was recently discovered in a German
print of 1622. It is reminiscent of other late pavans such as La mia Barbara
and Sir John Langton's Pavin, with fanciful arpeggiated figuration and rhapsodic
diminutions using the whole range of the instrument. The original is extremely
corrupt and I am indebted to Tim Crawford for his help in creating a viable
performing edition.
Many of Dowland's early works exist in consort settings as well as solo
versions. In many cases it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell whether the
solo settings are simplified arrangements of the consort versions, or whether
the consort versions are elaborations of the solo pieces. On the one hand, one
assumes a lutenist would compose most of his music at his instrument, Dowland
was an avid contrapuntist however, and may have composed on paper, later
arranging the pieces for lute. Unlike many continental composers, he was often
willing to sacrifice contrapuntal integrity in the interest of playability and
sonority on the lute. Another argument in favor of his having composed on paper,
working out his lute versions later, is suggested by works such as A Dream, which
seems static in a way lute pavans rarely are, especially in the treatment of
sustained harmonies, which lutenists usually embellished with moving notes or
style brise figuration to simulate sustained notes.
Many of Dowland's lute solos, especially the early works, survive without
decorated repeats in the original sources. Presumably, he improvised them himself,
before becoming more fastidious later in his career, when he began writing out all
of the ornamentation. The solo versions of the Lady Laitons Almone, for instance,
are without ornaments, while the consort lute part has exuberant single-line
diminutions on the repeats of each strain, leaving the harmonies to the accompanying
instruments. The scribe in the Ernst Schele Lute Book has added a bass line to
these diminutions, turning it into a solo piece, much as Dowland himself did with
works like Sir John Smith's Almaine. Dowland's process of revision can be plainly
seen in the two versions of The frogg galliard. The early version is very simple,
with no decorated repeats, while the later version has elaborate ornamentation for
both the right and left hand.
Fancy #5 begins with an unusual Pavan-like introduction, using the same
melody as Pav€in #18, before switching into a more characteristic contrapuntal mode.
The idea of beginning a fantasia with a prelude may have come to Dowland during his
trip to Italy, where composers like Simone Molinaro and Lorenzini di Roma were
already experimenting with what would later become a common form of the Toccata.
The manuscript appears to indicate that Fancy #5 can be coupled with the solo version
of the galliard Awake sweet love, which has the same melodic contour. My Ladie
Riches galyerd is also similar in shape, and it fits better with the present fancy.
Dowland does not appear to have written pavan-galliard pairs as did many of his
contemporaries (e.g. Byrd, Cutting, Collard, Morley, etc.), though players undoubtedly
coupled pieces, as indications in the Cosens Lute Book suggest. Whether Dowland
himself had any scheme of pairing we do not know. Sources indicate that several
galliards were coupled with the famous Lachrimae Pavin, but Dowland seems not to
have written a special galliard for it until quite late in his career.
Farwell is Dowland's contrapuntal tour-de-force. The eerie, ascending
chromatic lines and gripping dissonances moved Thomas Weelkes to borrow part of
the final section for his madrigal Cease sorrows now, setting it to the text,
"I'll sing my faint farewell." Dowland also manages to quote from his own songs
Flow my tears and Sorrow, stay.
Orlando sleepeth, What if a Day, Go from my windowe and Mrs Winters Jumpp
are played on the orpharion, a wire-strung instrument which shares the same tuning
and repertoire with the lute. (Robert Spencer has suggested the name is a combination
of Orpheus and Arion.) The latter two pieces were included by William Barley in a
section of music for the orpharion, in his New Booke of Tabliture of 1596, while
Dowland mentions the orpharion as an alternative to the lute for accompanying his
songs. In his text, Barley explains that on the orpharion, the fingers must be
"easily drawn over the strings, and not suddenly gripped, or sharply stroken as
the lute is: for if ye should do so, then the wire strings would clash or jarre
together the one against the other ... Therefore it is meet that you observe the
difference of the stroke."
The performer studying the lute music of John Dowland is confronted with
a dilemma in deciding which versions of the pieces to play. Dowland copied or
published only a few of his lute solos, while most of them exist in copies whose
authenticity may be questioned. Which versions are closest to his own vision?
Like many Elizabethan composers, Dowland arranged and revised his music repeatedly.
Which versions are the most representative, the earliest or the latest? Or, are
they equally valid artistic expressions? Which ornamented settings are by Dowland
himself and which the invention of a contemporary? Without Dowland's promised
opera omnia, which was never published, we cannot be certain. Modern performances
have tended to feature late versions of well-known pieces, while many of the rest,
including the often charming early versions, remain neglected. Several new' pieces
and new versions of well-known works have surfaced over the past ten years, and
questions have been raised as to the authenticity of others. Which are authentic,
and which are imitations by less-gifted musicians? During this series I will attempt
to present Dowland in a somewhat broader context, by including early and late
versions of many works, as well as arrangements made by his contemporaries. As one
18th-century lutenist wrote, "Anglia Dulandi lacrymis moveatur." ("May England
__ and now of course, the world __ be moved by Dowland's tears.")
- Paul O'Dette
harmonia mundi usa, 2037 Granville Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90025 (p)(c) 1995
Recorded: June 30, July 1-2, 1994, Campion Center, Boston, MA
Executive Producer: Robina G. Young
Engineer: Brad Michel
Sessions Producer: Christel Thielmann
Editor: Paul F. Witt
Cover: Elizabeth I Playing the Lute (miniature) by Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619);
Trustees of Berkeley Castle/Bridgeman Art Library, London;
Photo of Paul O'Dette: Hanya Chlala;
Produced in the USA
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