Lady Hunsdon's Puffe

The lutenist/composer John Dowland was said to “ravish the senses” with his music, which ranges from profoundly melancholy works to spirited dances like this one, originally for solo lute. In one source, it’s mysteriously called a “Puffe”—a title whose meaning we can only guess at; another manuscript, signed by Dowland, calls it “My Lady Hunsdon’s Allemand”. The “Allemand” was an aristocratic couple dance popular in Elizabethan England, and Dowland’s delightfully tuneful piece mirrors the rhythmic steps and jumps of the dancers. The dedication to Lady Hunsdon, the highly cultivated Elizabeth Spencer, may have opened doors for the composer: her husband was George Carey, Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth I and patron of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men—the theatrical company associated with Dowland’s contemporary, Shakespeare.