John Dowland (1563-1626): The First Book of Ayres

The FIRST BOOKE OF SONGS OR AYRES OF foure parts, with Tableture for the Lute SO MADE, THAT ALL THE parts together, or either of them seuerally, may be sung to the Lute, Orpherian, or Viol de gambo. COMPOSED BY JOHN DOWLAND, Lutenist and Bacheler of Musick in both the Vniuersities. Also an inuention by the Said Author for two to play upon one Lute. Imprinted at London by Humfrey Lownes, dwelling on Bredstreet-hill, at the signe of the Starre. 1597 00:00 Come Away, Sweet Love 02:07 Come Heavy Sleep 04:32 Sleep, Wayward Thoughts 06:44 If My Complaints 09:35 Would My Conceit 12:08 Awake, Sweet Love 14:18 All Ye, Whom Love 17:14 Now, O Now I Needs Must Part 19:25 Can She Excuse 22:07 Come Again 25:53 Wilt Thou Unkind 27:53 My Thoughts Are Winged 29:55 Dear, If You Change 32:18 Rest Awhile 34:56 Think’st Thou Then 36:51 Unquiet Thoughts 39:47 His Golden Locks 41:47 Who Ever Thinks 44:13 Burst Forth, My Tears 46:49 Lord Chamberlain, His Galliard (for two to play on one lute) 48:25 Go, Crystal Tears 50:25 Away With These Self-Loving Lads Performed in accordance with Dowland’s indications and suggestions, in divers settings, by a vocal ensemble, a broken consort of instruments, solo voices, and the Lute. PRO MUSICA ANTIQUA, Brussels - Safford Cape, Director Elisabeth Verlooy, soprano / Jeanne Deroubaix, contralto Franz Mertens & René Letroye, tenors / Willy Pourtois, bass Silva Devos, recorder / Michel Podolski, lute Janine Tryssesoone, treble viol / André Douvere & Gaston Dome, tenor viol “Dowland to thee is deare: whose heavenly tuch Upon the Lute, depth ravish humaine sense” These lines, written in 1598 by Richard Barnfield, could well be the expression of today’s feeling for John Dowland, for the emotive power of his music makes him truly dear to us and its spell may indeed be said to “ravish humaine sense.” John Dowland, born about 1563, came of an Irish family of County Dublin. His talent must have won him admission to the highest aristocratic circles, for in 1580, at the age of seventeen, he went to Paris in the suite of the English Ambassador, Sir Henry Cobham. Three years later, he returned to England, married, and obtained the Mus. Bach, degree from both Oxford and Cambridge. The refusal met with by his attempt to obtain a position as Court Musician and which he attributed to his having become a Catholic while in France, troubled him, as he says, to the extent that ‘he desired to get beyond the seas.’ Then it was he made his memorable rambles through Germany and Italy, coming into contact with “Henry Julio, Duke of Brunswick, Maritius, Lantzgrave of Hessen,” and other crowned heads who covered him with honors and sought to retain him in their service. In Italy, he was rightly flattered by the high esteem in which he was held by the great composer Luca Marenzio, with whom it was seemingly his desire to study. But as the group of English recusants in the midst of which he found himself in Italy was more than liable to compromise him dangerously in the eyes of the English Court, he doubtless thought it wise to make an honorable retreat, and so he returned to England, where he published his First Booke of Ayres in 1597. The second part of his life opened the next year, with his appointment as Lutenist to King Charles IV of Denmark. For eight years he led a princely life, coming home from time to time, when he was wont to wait upon Queen Anne, his Danish master’s royal sister. But again, misfortune overtook him, and for reasons which remain somewhat obscure, he was dismissed from the Danish Court. During the next six years, England seemed to forget the “nightingale” she had held so dear. But in 1612, Dowland at last obtained the long-desired appointment as one of the King’s Musicians for the Lute, and so spent the last fourteen years of his life in the service of King James I and King Charles I. The exact time and place of his death are unknown, but details in the payrolls show that his son Robert succeeded him in April 1626, so that his death must have occurred in January 1626.