John Dowland Lute Song "In Darkness Let Me Dwell"

[rrayner]

Hi Walt,

Thanks for posting this piece and the other proto-classical pieces. That's a lot of work. It is very good for analyzing sounds while seeing the voicings.

The lyrics of this piece are rather grim, but the music fits them well. The overall tone is hauntingly beautiful, and you have captured it well. I'm a sucker for minor tonalities.

Ralph

[dj]

I've used Dowland pieces for several Shakespearean productions over the years. Very mood-fitting stuff.

[aulos43]

Dowland is a representative of the English Renaissance, which was a late musical renaissance, by Continental standards. In fact, I've long thought of this music as having many "proto-baroque" features -- for example the melody-accompaniment-bass texture. It reminds me of the monody-based works of the Italian originators of opera and the basso continuo sonatas that became the mainstay of baroque chamber music.

I seem to be drawn to transitional eras in music. Examples would be John Dunstable, ushering in the renaissance; English Renaissance composers like Dowland and Byrd slipping between modal and tonal; the proto-classical composers like Monn, Wagenseil and Stamitz pioneering the (modern) orchestra and the sonata form; Beethoven presaging the Romantics; Arnold Schoenberg moving beyond common-practice tonality; John Cage pushing the boundaries of what we think of as music.

Walt