57
Renaissance consort instruments,
including the lute and strings, are
shown in Hearing (c.1617–1618), a
collaboration between Jan Brueghel
the Elder and Paul Rubens.See also: Le jeu de Robin et de Marion 32–35 ■ Ga brieli’s Sonata pian’ e forte 55 ■ Le bourgeois gentilhomme 70–71 ■
Stamitz’s Symphony in E-flat major 116–117RENAISSANCE 1400–1600
The 16th-century lute at first had
six courses (a single string for the
highest note, then five pairs of
strings tuned in unison or octaves),
then gained extra courses in the
bass called diapasons, tuned
diatonically (by steps of one tone).The English connection
By the turn of the 17th century,
John Dowland was one of a number
of composers who were writing fora lute with nine courses. England
excelled in the new style of lute
playing, which was also popular
with amateur players, including
Elizabeth I, who is shown playing
the instrument in a miniature
painted by Nicholas Hilliard.
Dowland composed around
90 works for the lute alone but also
incorporated the instrument into
a wider ensemble, known as a
consort. His collection Lachrimae(1604) develops the composer’s
own Lachrimae pavan (a dance
with stately music often treated to
instrumental elaboration) to create
seven melancholy variations, scored
for a string ensemble with solo lute.
Renaissance ensembles usually
comprised consorts of the same
instrument, but Dowland imagined
for his Lachrimae pavans either six
viols or six violins, including the
bass violin, forerunner of the cello.
Dances like the pavan and the
triple-time galliard were used by
keyboard players and composers
to show their skill at improvisation,
usually playing “divisions”
(variations) on the repeat of a
section. My Ladye Nevells Booke
(1591) by the English composer
William Byrd contains 10 pavan—
galliard pairs with variations for
the virginal, an instrument related
to the harpsichord. ■John Dowland It has been variously claimed^
that Dowland was born in 1563 in
Westminster (London) or Dalkey
(Ireland), and his early life remains
obscure. He spent his late teens in
service to the English ambassador
in France, where he embraced
Catholicism, later claiming that
this conversion prevented his
appointment as lutenist at the
English royal court in 1594.
Dowland then set off for three
years on a European tour, before
finding an appreciative patron
in Christian IV of Denmark. The
relationship later soured, and
Dowland was dismissed in 1606.Although his son, the composer
and lutenist Robert Dowland,
described his father in 1610 as
“being now gray, and like the
Swan, but singing toward his
end,” Dowland was, within two
years, made one of the lutenists
of King James I of England
and Scotland. Between that
appointment and his death, in
1625, few compositions survive.Other key works1597 Firste Booke of Songes
or Ayres
1612 A Pilgrim’s SolaceUS_056-057_John_Dowland.indd 57 26/03/18 1:00 PM