Dowland's ayres incorporate diverse musical forms of his day, including French air de cour, Italian madrigal, dance music, and English partsong, creating a new synthesis.
Performer Biography
Grace Davidson, the soprano on this recording, won the Royal Academy of Music's Early Music Prize and has recorded extensively with The Sixteen.
Cultural Impact
John Dowland's First Booke of Songes, published in 1597, was a publishing sensation, reprinted five times, and its lyrics were quoted in stage plays.
Cultural Impact
Some of Dowland's songs, like "Can she excuse?" and "Now, Oh now," were popular beyond England, with surviving lyrics in Dutch and Italian.
Cultural Impact
Dowland's First Booke of Songes initiated a craze for lute songs, leading to 21 composers producing 35 books of 'ayres' over 25 years.
Performer Biography
David Miller, the lutenist, is a professor of lute at the Guildhall School and has collaborated with many solo artists, including singers and violinists.
Composer Biography
John Dowland sometimes signed his name 'Jo: dolandi de Lachrimae', reflecting his famous motif of falling tears in his music.
You might also enjoy...
Humfrey: A Hymne to God the Father
Traditional: Black is the Colour of My True Loves Hair (Arr. Gupta for Countertenor and Piano)
Dowland: First Booke of Songs, 1597
Dowland: First Booke of Songes
Dowland: First Booke of Songs or Ayres (The)
Campion: Lute Songs
Dowland: Songs for His Elizabethan Patrons
Thomas Campion: Elizabethan Songs
Elizabethan Lute Songs
Heavenly Love, Earthly Joy - Elizabethan Lute Songs by John Dowland and Others
