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{{short description|Song composed by John Dowland}} |
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{{for|the Philip K. Dick novel|Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said}} |
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⚫ | "'''Flow, my tears'''" is a [[lute song]] (specifically, an "[[Air (music)|ayre]]") by the accomplished [[lute]]nist and composer [[John Dowland]] (1563–1626). Originally composed as an [[instrumental]] under the name "Lachrimae pavane" in 1596, it is Dowland's most famous ayre,<ref name="Greer">Greer</ref> and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his name "Jo |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} |
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⚫ | "'''Flow, my tears'''" (originally {{lang-en-emodeng|Flow my teares fall from your springs|italic=no}}) is a [[lute song]] (specifically, an "[[Air (music)|ayre]]") by the accomplished [[lute]]nist and composer [[John Dowland]] (1563–1626). Originally composed as an [[instrumental]] under the name "Lachrimae pavane" in 1596, it is Dowland's most famous ayre,<ref name="Greer">{{harvnb|Fortune|Greer|Dill|2001}}</ref> and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his name "Jo: dolandi de Lachrimae".{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. Melancholy}} |
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==Details== |
==Details== |
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Like others of Dowland's lute songs, the piece's [[musical form]] and style are based on a dance, in this case the [[pavane|pavan]]. It was first published in ''[[The Second Booke of Songs |
Like others of Dowland's lute songs, the piece's [[musical form]] and style are based on a dance, in this case the [[pavane|pavan]]. It was first published in ''[[The Second Book of Songs (1600)|The Second Booke of Songs or Ayres of 2, 4 and 5 parts]]'' (London, 1600). The song begins with a falling tear motif, starting on an A and descending to an E by step on the text "Flow, my tears". This may have been borrowed from an [[Orlando di Lasso]] [[motet]] or [[Luca Marenzio]] [[madrigal]] (this type of motif was common in [[Elizabethan music]] to signify grief), in addition to other borrowings in the piece.{{sfn|Holman|1999|pp=40–42}} Anthony Boden calls the song "probably the most widely known English song of the early 17th century."{{sfn|Boden|2005|p=322}} |
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==Variants== |
==Variants== |
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There have been many instrumental versions of this song, most entitled "Lachrimae" (or "Lachrymae", literally "tears"). In this case the instrumental version was written first, as "Lachrimae pavane" in 1596, and [[lyrics]] were later added.<ref name="Greer" /> It is believed that the text was written specifically for the music, and may have been written by Dowland himself. |
There have been many instrumental versions of this song, most entitled "Lachrimae" (or "Lachrymae", literally "tears"). In this case the instrumental version was written first, as "Lachrimae pavane" in 1596, and [[lyrics]] were later added.<ref name="Greer" /> It is believed that the text was written specifically for the music, and may have been written by Dowland himself.{{sfn|Caldwell|1991|loc=p. 429, note}} The English musicologist [[Peter Holman]] claims that the first pavan of "Lachrimae" (called "Lachrimae Antiquae", or the "Old Tears") is "perhaps the single most popular and widely distributed instrumental piece of the period".{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae"}} According to Holman, it exists in around 100 manuscripts and printings across Europe including England, Scotland, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Italy, in different arrangements for ensemble and solo.{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae"}} |
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The "Lachrimae" tend to be much more abstract than later music (such as Bach and Chopin) and there is no "definitive" version of the piece.{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae"}} Dowland and his contemporaries supposedly played their own versions in a semi-improvised fashion, like jazz musicians today.{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae"}} Holman argues that the popularity of "Lachrimae" came from its rich melodic and motivic nature.{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae"}} Other English composers in the period generally gave only one or two ideas per strain and padded them out with dull, diffusive [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]] writing.{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae"}} In contrast, Dowland's "Lachrimae" provide a variety of strikingly melodic ideas and furthermore they are tightly and tactfully interconnected.{{sfn|Holman|1999|loc=Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae"}} |
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⚫ | Instrumental versions by Dowland include "Lachrimae" for lute, "[[Galliard]] to Lachrimae" for lute and "Lachrimae antiquae" (1604) for [[consort of instruments|consort]]. Dowland also published ''[[Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares]]'' (London, 1604), a collection of consort music which included a cycle of seven "Lachrimae" pavans based on the falling tear motif. [[Thomas Morley]] set the "Lachrimae Pauin" for the six instruments of a |
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⚫ | Instrumental versions by Dowland include "Lachrimae" for lute, "[[Galliard]] to Lachrimae" for lute and "Lachrimae antiquae" (1604) for [[consort of instruments|consort]]. Dowland also published ''[[Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares]]'' (London, 1604), a collection of consort music which included a cycle of seven "Lachrimae" pavans based on the falling tear motif. [[Thomas Morley]] set the "Lachrimae Pauin" for the six instruments of a [[broken consort]] in his ''First Booke of Consort Lessons'' (London, 1599). |
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⚫ | Other composers have written pieces based on the work, including [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]], |
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⚫ | Other composers have written pieces based on the work, including [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]],{{sfn|Roberts|2006}} [[Thomas Tomkins]],{{sfn|Boden|2005|p=323}} and [[Tobias Hume]]'s ''What Greater Griefe'',{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}} while [[John Danyel]]'s ''Eyes, look no more'' pays clear homage to the piece,{{sfn|Scott|Greer|2001}} as does [[John Bennet (composer)|John Bennet]]'s "[[Weep, o mine eyes]]".{{sfn|Brown|2001}} In the 20th century, American composer and conductor [[Victoria Bond]] wrote ''Old New Borrowed Blues (Variations on Flow my Tears)''.{{sfn|Bonaventura|Jepson|Block|n.d.}} [[Benjamin Britten]] quotes the incipit of "Flow, my tears" in his [[List_of_compositions_by_Benjamin_Britten#Viola_and_piano|Lachrymae]] for viola, a set of variations on Dowland's ayre "If my complaints could passions move". In 2006, the British [[electronic music]] group [[Banco de Gaia]] produced a [[vocoder|vocoded]] version called "Flow my Dreams, the Android Wept".<ref name="Banco">[http://www.swapacd.com/cd/album/836144-farewell+ferengistan Banco de Gaia – Farewell Ferengistan CD] – review on swapacd.com</ref> |
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==Lyrics== |
==Lyrics== |
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{{Listen|type=music|filename=Flow, my tears.ogg|title=Flow, my tears|description=Soprano and lute}} |
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Flow, my tears.ogg|title=Flow, my tears|description=Soprano and lute}} |
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<poem> |
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{{Verse translation|lang=emen|italicsoff=yes |
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|Flow my teares fall from your springs, |
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Exilde for euer: Let mee morne |
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Where nights black bird hir sad infamy sings, |
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There let mee liue forlorne. |
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Downe vaine lights shine you no more, |
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No nights are dark enough for those |
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That in dispaire their last fortuns deplore, |
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Light doth but shame disclose. |
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Neuer may my woes be relieued, |
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Since pittie is fled, |
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And teares, and sighes, and grones my wearie dayes, my wearie dayes, |
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Of all ioyes haue depriued. |
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Frō the highest spire of contentment, |
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My fortune is throwne, |
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And feare, and griefe, and paine for my deserts, for my deserts, |
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Are my hopes since hope is gone. |
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Harke you shadowes that in darcknesse dwell, |
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Learne to contemne light, |
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Happie, happie they that in hell |
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Feele not the worlds despite. |
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Exiled for ever, let me mourn; |
Exiled for ever, let me mourn; |
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Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings, |
Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings, |
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Happy, happy they that in hell |
Happy, happy they that in hell |
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Feel not the world's despite. |
Feel not the world's despite. |
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|attr1="Flow my teares fall from your springs"<br />from ''The Second Booke of Songs or Ayres,<br />of 2.4.and 5.parts: With {{not a typo|Tableture}}<!-- sic erat scriptum --> for the Lute or Orpherian, with the Violl de Gamba'' (1600){{sfn|Dowland|1600}} |
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</poem> |
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|attr2=Modern transcription}} |
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== In other media == |
== In other media == |
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Lines 8–10 are quoted in the [[Philip K. Dick]] novel ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]''. |
Lines 8–10 are quoted in the 1974 [[Philip K. Dick]] novel ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'', the title of which is also an allusion to the song. |
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==References== |
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* Sam di Bonaventura, Barbara Jepson, and Adrienne Fried Block. "Victoria Bond", ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]'', ed. L. Macy (accessed October 28, 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access). |
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* David Brown. "John Bennet (i)", ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]'', ed. L. Macy (accessed November 5, 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access). |
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* David Greer. "Air (2)", ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]'', ed. L. Macy (accessed October 28, 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access). |
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* Christopher Hogwood. Preface to ''Dowland: Keyboard music''. Edition HH, Bicester, England, 2005. Accessed December 16, 2007. [http://www.editionhh.co.uk/hh74pref.htm HH website]. |
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* Peter Holman. ''Dowland, Lachrimae (1604)''. Cambridge University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-521-58829-4}} |
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* Peter Holman with Paul O'Dette. "John Dowland", ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]'', ed. L. Macy (accessed October 28, 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access). |
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* Timothy Roberts. ''For the home keyboardist'', review of Hogwood, ''Dowland: Keyboard music''. Early Music, May 2006, p. 311–313. [http://em.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/34/2/311.pdf Oxford journals]. |
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* David Scott and David Greer. "John Danyel", ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]'', ed. L. Macy (accessed October 28, 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access). |
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==Footnotes== |
==Footnotes== |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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===Sources=== |
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{{div col|colwidth=45em}} |
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* {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Bonaventura|first1=Sam di|last2=Jepson|first2=Barbara|last3=Block|first3=Adrienne Fried|title=Victoria Bond|date=n.d.|encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]]|editor=L. Macy}} {{subscription required}} |
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* {{cite Grove|last=Brown|first=David|title=John Bennet (i)|date=2001|id=02701}} {{subscription required}} |
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* {{cite Grove|last1=Fortune|first1=Nigel|author1-link=Nigel Fortune|last2=Greer|first2=David|last3=Dill|first3=Charles|title=Air (i)|date=2001|id=48638}} {{subscription required}} |
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* {{Cite book|last=Holman|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Holman|title=Dowland: Lachrimae (1604)|year=1999|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=0-521-58829-4|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511605666}} |
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* {{cite journal|last=Roberts|first=Timothy|title=For the home keyboardist|type=review of Hogwood, ''Dowland: Keyboard music''|journal=[[Early Music (journal)|Early Music]]|volume=34|issue=2|date=May 2006|pages=311–313|doi=10.1093/em/cal015}} |
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* {{cite Grove|last1=Scott|first1=David|last2=Greer|first2=David|title=John Danyel|date=2001|id=07199}} {{subscription required}} |
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{{div col end}} |
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==Further reading== |
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* {{cite web|last=Hogwood|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Hogwood|year=2005|url=http://www.editionhh.co.uk/hh74pref.htm|title=Introduction|work=John Dowland: Keyboard music|location=Bicester, England|publisher=Edition HH|access-date=19 July 2023|ref=none}} |
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* {{Cite Grove|last1=Holman|first1=Peter|author-link1=Peter Holman|last2=O'Dette|first2=Paul|title=John Dowland|year=2001|id=08103|ref=none}} {{subscription required}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* {{IMSLP|work=Flow My Tears (Dowland, John)|cname="Flow, my tears"}} |
* {{IMSLP|work=Flow My Tears (Dowland, John)|cname="Flow, my tears"}} |
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{{Portal bar|Classical music}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Compositions by John Dowland]] |
[[Category:Compositions by John Dowland]] |
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[[Category:Lute songs]] |
[[Category:Lute songs]] |
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[[Category:1600 works]] |
[[Category:1600 works]] |
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[[Category:The Second |
[[Category:The Second Book of Songs]] |
Latest revision as of 16:31, 26 April 2024
"Flow, my tears" (originally Early Modern English: Flow my teares fall from your springs) is a lute song (specifically, an "ayre") by the accomplished lutenist and composer John Dowland (1563–1626). Originally composed as an instrumental under the name "Lachrimae pavane" in 1596, it is Dowland's most famous ayre,[1] and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his name "Jo: dolandi de Lachrimae".[2]
Details
[edit]Like others of Dowland's lute songs, the piece's musical form and style are based on a dance, in this case the pavan. It was first published in The Second Booke of Songs or Ayres of 2, 4 and 5 parts (London, 1600). The song begins with a falling tear motif, starting on an A and descending to an E by step on the text "Flow, my tears". This may have been borrowed from an Orlando di Lasso motet or Luca Marenzio madrigal (this type of motif was common in Elizabethan music to signify grief), in addition to other borrowings in the piece.[3] Anthony Boden calls the song "probably the most widely known English song of the early 17th century."[4]
Variants
[edit]There have been many instrumental versions of this song, most entitled "Lachrimae" (or "Lachrymae", literally "tears"). In this case the instrumental version was written first, as "Lachrimae pavane" in 1596, and lyrics were later added.[1] It is believed that the text was written specifically for the music, and may have been written by Dowland himself.[5] The English musicologist Peter Holman claims that the first pavan of "Lachrimae" (called "Lachrimae Antiquae", or the "Old Tears") is "perhaps the single most popular and widely distributed instrumental piece of the period".[6] According to Holman, it exists in around 100 manuscripts and printings across Europe including England, Scotland, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Italy, in different arrangements for ensemble and solo.[6]
The "Lachrimae" tend to be much more abstract than later music (such as Bach and Chopin) and there is no "definitive" version of the piece.[6] Dowland and his contemporaries supposedly played their own versions in a semi-improvised fashion, like jazz musicians today.[6] Holman argues that the popularity of "Lachrimae" came from its rich melodic and motivic nature.[6] Other English composers in the period generally gave only one or two ideas per strain and padded them out with dull, diffusive contrapuntal writing.[6] In contrast, Dowland's "Lachrimae" provide a variety of strikingly melodic ideas and furthermore they are tightly and tactfully interconnected.[6]
Instrumental versions by Dowland include "Lachrimae" for lute, "Galliard to Lachrimae" for lute and "Lachrimae antiquae" (1604) for consort. Dowland also published Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares (London, 1604), a collection of consort music which included a cycle of seven "Lachrimae" pavans based on the falling tear motif. Thomas Morley set the "Lachrimae Pauin" for the six instruments of a broken consort in his First Booke of Consort Lessons (London, 1599).
Other composers have written pieces based on the work, including Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck,[7] Thomas Tomkins,[8] and Tobias Hume's What Greater Griefe,[citation needed] while John Danyel's Eyes, look no more pays clear homage to the piece,[9] as does John Bennet's "Weep, o mine eyes".[10] In the 20th century, American composer and conductor Victoria Bond wrote Old New Borrowed Blues (Variations on Flow my Tears).[11] Benjamin Britten quotes the incipit of "Flow, my tears" in his Lachrymae for viola, a set of variations on Dowland's ayre "If my complaints could passions move". In 2006, the British electronic music group Banco de Gaia produced a vocoded version called "Flow my Dreams, the Android Wept".[12]
Lyrics
[edit]Flow my teares fall from your springs, |
Flow, my tears, fall from your springs! |
—"Flow my teares fall from your springs" from The Second Booke of Songs or Ayres, of 2.4.and 5.parts: With Tableture for the Lute or Orpherian, with the Violl de Gamba (1600)[13] |
—Modern transcription |
In other media
[edit]Lines 8–10 are quoted in the 1974 Philip K. Dick novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, the title of which is also an allusion to the song.
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ a b Fortune, Greer & Dill 2001
- ^ Holman 1999, Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. Melancholy.
- ^ Holman 1999, pp. 40–42.
- ^ Boden 2005, p. 322.
- ^ Caldwell 1991, p. 429, note.
- ^ a b c d e f g Holman 1999, Section 4 The seven 'Passionate Pavans'. "Lachrimae Antiquae".
- ^ Roberts 2006.
- ^ Boden 2005, p. 323.
- ^ Scott & Greer 2001.
- ^ Brown 2001.
- ^ Banco de Gaia – Farewell Ferengistan CD – review on swapacd.com
- ^ Dowland 1600.
Sources
[edit]- Boden, Anthony (2005). Thomas Tomkins: The Last Elizabethan. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-7546-5118-5.
- Bonaventura, Sam di; Jepson, Barbara; Block, Adrienne Fried (n.d.). "Victoria Bond". In L. Macy (ed.). Grove Music Online. (subscription required)
- Brown, David (2001). "John Bennet (i)". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.02701. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription required)
- Dowland, John (1600). Second Booke of Songs or Ayres. Facsimile edition of the original manuscript M2DOW.
- Fortune, Nigel; Greer, David; Dill, Charles (2001). "Air (i)". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.48638. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription required)
- Holman, Peter (1999). Dowland: Lachrimae (1604). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511605666. ISBN 0-521-58829-4.
- Roberts, Timothy (May 2006). "For the home keyboardist". Early Music (review of Hogwood, Dowland: Keyboard music). 34 (2): 311–313. doi:10.1093/em/cal015.
- Scott, David; Greer, David (2001). "John Danyel". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.07199. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription required)
- Caldwell, John, ed. (1991). The Oxford History of English Music: Volume 1: From the Beginnings to c.1715. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816129-8.
Further reading
[edit]- Hogwood, Christopher (2005). "Introduction". John Dowland: Keyboard music. Bicester, England: Edition HH. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
- Holman, Peter; O'Dette, Paul (2001). "John Dowland". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.08103. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription required)
External links
[edit]- "Flow, my tears": Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Sheet music for "Flow, my tears"
- Video: "Flow, my tears" on Vimeo, Valeria Mignaco, soprano, and Alfonso Marin, lute
- Animated score: "Flow, my tears" on YouTube, sung by countertenor Andreas Scholl