John Dowland (1563–1626) was an English, possibly Irish-born, composer, sin… Read Full Bio ↴John Dowland (1563–1626) was an English, possibly Irish-born, composer, singer, and lutenist.

Very little is known of Dowland's early life, but it is generally thought he was born in London, or possibly Dublin. It is known that he went to Paris in 1580 where he was in service to the ambassador to the French court. He became a Roman Catholic at this time, which he claimed led to his not being offered a post at Elizabeth I's Protestant court. (However, he had told nobody of his conversion.) He worked instead for many years at the court of Christian IV of Denmark. He returned to England in 1606 and in 1612 secured a post as one of James I's lutenists. He died in London on the 20th February 1626.

Most of Dowland's music is for his own instrument, the lute. It includes several books of solo lute works, lute songs (for one voice and lute), part-songs with lute accompaniment, and several pieces for viol consort with lute.

He later wrote what is probably his best known instrumental work, Lachrimae or Seaven Teares Figured in Seaven Passionate Pavans, a set of seven for five viols and lute, each based on his well-known song "Flow My Tears". It became one of the best known pieces of consort music in his own time. His pavane "Lachrymae antiquae" was also one of the big hits of the seventeenth century.

Dowland's music often displays the melancholia that was so fashionable in music at that time, typified by a consort piece with the punning title "Semper Dowland, semper dolens" ("Always Dowland, always doleful").

Semper Dowland semper dolens
John Dowland Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by John Dowland:

Awake sweet love Come again: Sweet love doth now invite, Thy graces that ref…
Can she excuse my wrongs Can she excuse my wrongs with Virtue's cloak? Shall I…
Come again Come again, sweet love doth now invite, thy graces that…
Come Again Sweet Days Come again: Sweet love doth now invite, Thy graces that ref…
Come again sweet Love Come again Sweet love doth now invite Thy graces that refrai…
Come again sweet love doth now invite Come again: Sweet love doth now invite, Thy graces that ref…
Come Again! Sweet Love Doth Now Invite Come again, sweet love doth now invite, thy graces that refr…
Come Again!: Sweet Love Doth Now Invite Come again: Sweet love doth now invite, Thy graces that ref…
Come Again, Sweet Love Doth Now Invite Come again, sweet love doth now invite, thy graces that…

Come Again: Come Again Come again: Sweet love doth now invite, Thy graces that ref…
Come Again: Sweet Love Doth Now Invite Come again, sweet love doth now invite, thy graces that refr…
Come Away Come Sweet Love Come again: Sweet love doth now invite, Thy graces that ref…
Fine Knacks for Ladies Fine knacks for ladies, cheap, choice, brave and new, Good p…
First Booke of Songes: Come again: Sweet love doth now invite Come again Sweet love doth now invite Thy graces that refrai…
Flow My Teares Flow, my tears, fall from your springs! Exiled for ever, let…
From Silent Night From silent night, true register of moanes From saddest Soul…
Go Crystal Tears Go crystal tears, like to the morning show'rs And sweetly…
If my complaints could passions move If my complaints could passions move, Or make Love see wher…
In Darkness Let Me Dwell In darkness let me dwell; the ground shall sorrow be, The…
My Thoughts Are Wing'd With Hopes My thoughts are wing'd with hopes, my hopes with love. Mount…
Say Love if ever thou did'st find Say, love, if ever thou didst find A woman with a…
sorrow stay Sorrow, sorrow stay Lend true repentant tears To a woeful, w…
The Lowest Trees have Tops The lowest trees have tops, the ant her gall The fly…
Unquiet thoughts Unquiet thoughts, your civil slaughter stint, And wrap your …
Weep you no more Weep you no more, sad fountains; What need you flow so…

What if I never speed What if I never speed, shall I straight yield to despair, an…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

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Comments from YouTube:

Rob Brown

4y↑4

Always Dowland, always grieving. This is such a magnificent piece by one of the greatest composers. Few people knew of John Dowland, and the lute, when Bream began unveiling both in the first part of his concerts. In the second half of those programs, he astounded audiences with his guitar virtuosity often including the works of contemporary composers whom he had inspired to write for an instrument that was, at that time, still looked upon with suspicion in the world of classical music. There are so many first rate guitarists now. when Bream recorded and toured, there were only a handful of world renowned guitarists, and he was at the fore, which was all the more surprising since he was essentially an autodidact.

Imhof44

There are reputedly only 2 English composers with a truly international following this is one,the other one being John Dunstable.Perhaps not truly fair,but?

Abundance

6y↑7

What is important is whether this music is brought to life - not whether he's using his fingernails or the pads of his fingers to pluck the strings. in this performance the music is very definitely alive.

Markus-Hermann Koch

Absolutely agree. Plus there are also voices (failing to find the source right now, sorry) stating modern believe that baroque lutenists used nails after all. Myself, I came here from Wikipedia's article about John Dowland. I had to listen to the piece he gave that name. And lo, it is there on youtube, and IMHO in a wonderful performance, too! Never mind minutiae of technique, albeit they are invited by the description attached to the video.

Bevan

4y↑3

Rest well, Master Bream. And thank you.

StevieJ D

Perfect words.

Inner World Music Guitar

5y↑2

True musical and emotional depth, there are too many aspects to discuss here which make Bream such a great artist and musician.

John Fenner

7y↑15

How can people post such sad nonsense about this performance. Julian has brought this music to life . Possibly many years before these "critics " were born. I'd love to listen to "Them"! . We owe him a great debt . I see Dowland nodding in approval. Wonderful ! .

Tobias Schlieker

@James, thanks for correcting me on that issue.

James

4y↑3

@Tobias Schlieker There is nothing ahistorical about playing lute with nails as people played them with nails. Some people used nails, others used flesh. It is the same with the guitar.

Hand position is dictated by nail shape in classical guitar, this means that if you have a good nail shape for guitar you won't be able to make the more historical more horizontal position sound as good as your standard guitar angle.

As Bream was a guitarist first, you cannot expect him to cut his nails off every time he wanted to practice lute, or cut them off midway through a concert- thats silly.

We know lutenists were arguing about nails vs no nails back in the Renaissance- which proves its personal preference- or a necessity due to wired shaped fingers or weak nails. As time0 went on more lutenists began to use nails to get their instrument heard over an enable (think baroque era) and many Theorbists also used nails.

Tobias Schlieker

Though this is not the state of the art anymore, we still need to value Julian Bream as one of the pioneers of lute playing. He has the same right to be valued as a Nikolaus Harnoncourt or especially Gustav Leonhardt.
Having said this I will be cautious of criticizing too much but I would like to say that it sounds interesting due to the fact that he played with fingernails, which lute players today don't do because they consider it ahistorical but this shows a development and HIP performance is all about development.

Jim Griffin

4y↑1

Couldn't agree more... there are a lot of people below puffing out a lot of hot air which may be as musical as they can get.

Heimerblaster

5y↑2

He is the best lute player that has walked the planet since recordings started yes there are many good ones Hopkinson Smith, Paul R. O'Dette, Konrad Ragossnig, etc...BUT Bream is the best and by far most musical. His Dowland is the unmatched.

Andrew McKenna

4y↑2

Rest in peace Julian. Thank you for being you...

M Godwin

4y↑1

Maestro Julian Bream RIP.

Alan Souza cruz

Rest in peace maestro 🌷

Revell Horton Horton

5y↑16

AS A BLACK MAN I NEVER THOUGHT MY GUITAR AND LUTE HERO WOULD BE A WHITE MAN NAME JULIAN BREAM. JULIAN BREAM IN A CLASS BY HIS SELF. NOW IM STUDYING THE CLASSICAL GUITAR AND LUTE. GROWING UP IN THE SLUMS OF CHICAGO FULL OF GANG VIOLENCE AND AND STUPITY. I NEVER HEARD OF GUITARIST LIKE. JULIAN BREAM. OR JOHN WILLIAMS. NOW I FELL LIKE I HAVE BEE ROB AT THE AGE OF 66. I WISH I COULD HAVE TAKEN UP THE CLASSICAL GUITAR AND THE LUTE

Seth Burgin

The lute was based upon the Oud brought into Spain in the Moorish invasion, and the Moors are kind of white and but not at all typical European Anglo Saxon or Caucasian white. Music is colorblind. It also transcends both languages and cultures, and that is why I love it so much.

I have given up

4y↑3

What on earth does your skin color have to do with any of this

Crazy Matt

5y↑3

Good for you man! That's awesome!

william jackson

7y↑5

the top "course" of any lute is a single string. It even has a name: chanterelle.

Julian played at my university (1974). He had a sign near the stage and in the program that said ABSOLUTELY NO PHOTOGRAPHS. Lon Cooper, our photojournalist, went right up to the stage and started to take a pic before a piece and Julian thought it was taking forever and he said, "are you going to take the goddamn photo or not?" Lon backed off and the audience applauded our artist of the evening.

Antti Sairanen

Been in a piano recital by Sviatoslav Richter in Prague in early 1980s. A tourist in the audience defied the very clear, multilanguae "no photographing, no recording" signs and too a photo of Richter coming on the scene. He bowed, looked at the poor tourist and left. That was the recital.

Michael Szczerbaty

Julian Bream, you were the best!

George Bennett

4y↑1

As a white man growing up in the Thames valley full of tennis courts and golf courses in the mid 1960s I never thought my guitar heroes would be elderly black men like John Lee Hooker; B B King; Albert King and Buddy Guy.

Antti Sairanen

5y↑5

This IS the performance of Semper Dowland Semper Dolens

Paul Crawford

6y↑1

ah, there is no justice in the world only art

Matthew Spencer

4y↑3

He's gone before us now (14/8/2020) and is somewhere far above nit-picking comments about his string-picking techniques.

mr. kilpatrick

5y↑1

What kinda weirdo gives this a thumbs down?

banjoboy01

thumb over technique

davehshs

7y↑1

Since Bream was primarily a guitarist, he had no choice but to pluck lute strings with his fingernails, as guitarists do.
But it definitely changes the sound from the traditional one of players who plucked the strings with the pads of their finger tips. Personally, I prefer the traditional sound. (BTW, I consider Bream possibly the greatest classical guitarist of the 20th century.)

DanteFerrara

@jgrossma Actually there are many surviving lutes from Dowland's time, some quite playable. I use gut strings on my lute. Yes, they're expensive but when played with fingers and not nails give a warm sound, better than nylon could achieve. They keep their tuning quite well in a temperate room. The only disadvantage is that the top two courses don't last long.

I once had the opportunity to play one of Bream's lutes he was selling. It was a monster, with guitar frets and heavy nylon strings, definitely built for a guitarist. I didn't buy it.

banjoboy01

Aquila has nyl-gut strings if you play renaissance music your right hand will become accustom to plucking the lower action etc. Julian was a hybrid

banjoboy01

7y↑1

thank you for detail reply , JB did not use double strings on top 2 courses maybe he bridged the music for us slowpokes

davehshs

7y↑1

+jgrossma Thanks for your informative, interesting comments.

jgrossma

7y↑1

By the way, to some extent all contemporary lute playing is a recreation/approximation, because no playable lutes from Dowlands era have survived. All contemporary lutes, including Bream's, are modern replicas based on study of historical lute depictions/descriptions and some comparison to authentic instruments in bad disrepair. How period-accurate some of these instruments are, is debatable.

Also, many (though certainly not all) contemporary lutenists use nylon (rather than gut) strings and metallic (rather than tied on-gut string) frets. Neither of these things are really period-accurate, but they certainly facilitate playing the instrument. Gut strings, in particular, are relatively expensive, notoriously difficult to maintain in tune, and not particularly durable.

1 More Replies...

Juliet Daniel

7y↑2

A Renaissance lute is not supposed to be played with the fingernails like a guitar, but with the finger pads. He makes the lute have no depth and a very thin sound. Clearly a classical guitarist and not a lutenist. His version is sad and needed lots of work, primarily with how to actually play the instrument. A guitarist cannot simply pick up the lute, they have to learn the technical aspects of it first. Even if he played it with a plucktrum, it still would've sounded better than his fingernails. Not to mention, Renaissance lute is played with the thumb-in style, not thumb-out like a guitar. He technique was all wrong.

DanteFerrara

@Bevan There are plenty of tutor books from the lute's golden age and even more paintings that show us the way. The technique that classical guitarists use was established in the early 1800s and it works beautifully for guitar, as Julian Bream shows. But the blanket approach doesn't work on the lute, in the same way as I tried to play guitar with lute fingering. It sounded poor.

Knowledge of lute construction has also come a long way since Goff made his for Julian. Original lutes weren't built for large concert halls and large audiences. His lutes were big, heavy and with metal frets - made for projection.

Others might, but I'm not deriding Bream's playing. He's a guitarist who played the lute exceptionally well, but with guitar technique.

TSgitaar

4y↑1

@DanteFerrara I find it disappointing and surprising how lutenists are talking down on a man who tried his hardest to popularize your favorite instrument. If it wasn't for Bream I would never listen to lute music anyways... And I suspect that goes for a lot of people. I just want to enjoy his playing without someone with a big nose telling me how wrong and sad his performance is. It comes across as obnoxious, like I need someone to tell me how to enjoy lute music, and I don't care for that. I'll happily just use my ears.

DanteFerrara

4y↑1

@John Fenner I had the opportunity to try one of Julian's lutes he was selling. It was huge, heavy and had metal frets. It wasn't for me but he could make it sing. I prefer my own gut-strung lute, played with a 16th century heart.

9 More Replies...

Chris

I study American original Fingerstylist and clacicalist Ed McTier a.k.a Blind McTell ,with so few pop and rock Fingerstylists , as the late Toy Caldwell of marshall tucker , those who have as Lindsay Buckingham of fleetwood mac , and the late John Winter as well as St William or , in life rock guitarist Rory Gallagher , are really advance the solo, group,band and concert orchestras of the indefinite future . Again ,Julian Bream himself with a 'fancy", by J.Dowland himself,makes the listeners wonder who as well as what are the harmonic source images of the ' tone poems' Old Chris , a fiddler of Albuquerque NM,at chrisyoungdoesmctell.Youtube.com also.

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