Dowland, John
Dowland, John
Dowland, John, great English composer and famous lutenist, father of Robert Dowland; b. probably in London, 1563; d. there (buried), Feb. 20,1626. In 1580 he went to Paris in the service of Sir Henry Cobham, but by 1584 he was back in England, where he eventually married. On July 8, 1588, he was admitted to his Mus.B. from Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1592 he played before the Queen. Unsuccessful in his effort to secure a position as one of the Queen’s musicians, he set out in 1594 for Germany, where he received the patronage of the Duke of Braunschweig in Wolfenbuttel and the Landgrave of Hesse in Kassel. He then went to Italy and visited Venice, Padua, Genoa, Ferrara, and Florence; in Florence he played before Ferdinando I, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He then made his way home, returning to England in 1595. In 1598 he was appointed lutenist to King Christian IV of Denmark, remaining in his service until 1606. He then returned to England, where he became lutenist to Lord Howard de Walden. In 1612 he became one of the lutenists to King Charles I. Dowland was a foremost representative of the English school of lutenist-composers. He was also noted for his songs, in which he made use of novel chromatic developments; he treated the accompanying parts as separate entities, thereby obtaining harmonic effects quite advanced for his time.
Works
The 1st Booke of Songes or Ayres offowre paries with Tableturefor the Lute… (London, 1597); The 2nd Booke of Songs or Ayres, of 2. 4. and 5. parts; With Tableturefor the Lute or Orpherian… (London, 1600); The 3rd and Last Booke of Songs or Aires… (London, 1603); Lachrimae, or 7 Teares Figvred in Seaven Passionate Pauans,….set forth for the Lute, Viols, or Violons, in fiue parts (London, 1604); songs in A Mvsicall Banquet (London, 1612) and A Pilgrimes Solace. Wherein is contained Musicall Harmonie of 3. 4. and 5. parts, to be sung and plaid with the Lute and Viols (London, 1612).
Writings
Dowland tr. into Eng. The Micrologus of Ornithoparcus (Andreas Vogelsang; London, 1609; modern ed. in Eng. and Latin, ed. by G. Reese and S. Ledbetter, N.Y, 1973); also with his son Robert, the Necessarie Observations Belonging to the Lute, and Lvte playing, by John Baptisto Besardo [Jean-Baptiste Besard] ofVisconti: with choise varietie of Lvte-lessons… (includes compositions by John Dowland; London, 1610). EDITIONS: These include E. Fellowes’s eds. of The 1st Book of Songs (London, 1920; rev. ed., 1965, by T. Dart), The 2nd Book of Songs (London, 1922; rev. ed., 1969, by T. Dart), The 3rd and Last Book of Songs (London, 1923; rev. ed., 1970, by T. Dart), A Pilgrimes Solace (London, 1924; rev. ed., 1969, by T. Dart), and 7 Hymn Tunes…Lamentatio Henrici Noel (London, 1934); P. Warlock, Lachrimae or 7 Tears…Transcribed from the original edition of 1605 (without tablature; London, 1927); T. Dart and N. Fortune, eds., Ayres for 4 Voices, in Musica Britannica (Vol. 6, London, 1953; 2nded., rev., 1963); D. Poulton and B. Lam, eds., The Collected Lute Music of]. D. (London, 1974).
Bibliography
E. D. Poulton, /. D.: His Life and Works (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1972; 2nd ed., rev, 1982); M. Pilkington, Campion, D. and the Lutenist Songwriters (London, 1989).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire