Dowland, John

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Dowland, John (c.1563–1626). English composer and the leading lutenist of his age. At the age of 17 Dowland travelled in the service of the ambassador Sir Henry Cobham to Paris, where he became a catholic. In 1594–7 he visited Germany and Italy, becoming court lutenist to King Christian IV of Denmark in 1598. Nevertheless Dowland was bitterly disappointed at his failure to achieve an English court position. This eventually came in 1612, but he remained disaffected, his typically Elizabethan tendency to melancholy colouring his most characteristic music, such as the lute-song ‘Flow my tears’, based on the famous ‘Lachrimae’ pavan that also appeared in versions for solo lute and for viol consort. Dowland made the lute-song his own, moving from the dance-orientated pieces of The First Booke of Songes or Ayres (1597) to the Italianate declamation of ‘Sorrow stay’ (Book II, 1600) and the deep introspection of ‘In darkness let me dwell’ (A Musicall Banquet, 1610).

Eric Cross

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