Lachrimae

Dowland’s 1604 collection of Lachrimae—or musical “tears”, as he described them—is infused with the “fashionable malady” of melancholia that pervades so many of the musical, literary and artistic works of his age. The publication became famous because of its sequence of seven pavans—slow, wistful, stylised dances. Through these, Dowland obsessively reworks a four-note musical motif whose relentless stepwise descent suggests falling teardrops. The motif was frequently used in penitential works and operatic laments from this time on—a sort of Baroque “blues”. The Lachrimae pavans were, in turn, variations on an earlier lute solo turned song; the latter, “Flow, my tears”, became Dowland’s No. 1 “blues” hit. Its lyrics reflect on the theme of exile—a poignant subject for the composer, who’d been forced to leave England for Denmark in search of employment, but also an allegorical reflection on the fall of man: “Flow, my tears, fall from your springs!/Exiled for ever, let me mourn.” Certainly, the mournful tone of the song haunts the later pavans, with their intense harmonies, anguished dissonances and minor mode. The collection also includes some lighter, livelier dances: sinewy Almans and jaunty Galliards, evocatively named after various people: members of the gentility, Dowland’s patron King Christian IV of Denmark and even the notorious pirate Digory Piper.