dowland's darkness

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Dowland's DarknessAuthor(s): Diana PoultonReviewed work(s):Source: Early Music, Vol. 11, No. 4, Rameau Tercentenary Issue (Oct., 1983), pp. 517-519Published by: Oxford University Press

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Nationale,m72108,3v; hoto lan erstman)not partof the title. The appearanceof the attributionin a collection emanating in some way fromBalbastreis strongsupportfor its accuracy,since Balbastrewas awarmadmirerof Rameauand is likely to have knownwhetheror not the piece was the workof the master;5Marpurg's vidence reinforces the link. Andthe pieceitself suggests Rameau's authorship, for it consistslargelyof batterieshat arehighly characteristic of hisstyle (though they were widely copied). The two typeshe claimed in 1724 to have invented are neatlydifferentiated at the beginnings andends of strains: Inone of these batteries, he hands make between themthe consecutive movement of two drumsticks:and inthe other, the left hand passes over the right to playalternatelythe bass and treble.'6One might object that the music is unworthy ofRameau,but the same objection applies to the littleminuet in that same preface of 1724; obviously bothare studies for beginners. Certainly neither is lessworthythan the other harpsichordpiece by Rameauknownonly in manuscript,the second-rate, mechani-cally spun-outLadauphine.Untilproof to the contrary

is adduced, it seems that we must accept Lespetitsmarteaux s a minor addition to the Ramelliancanon.'F. W. Marpurg,Historisch-hritischeeytragezur AufnahmederMusih,1 (Berlin, 1754), p.4652Other opies may emergeduringthe preparation, y BruceGustafsonnd hewriter,fasystematicatalogue f therepertory,which s now in progress.3Recetiilsic]de piecesde clavecinde differents uteursItalienesetfrancois4It should be noted that the merepresenceor absenceof anattributionn this source ellsus nothing: f 40 piecesorpairsofpieces, abouta thirdcarrya composer'sname;only threeareattributed o Balbastre,so the blanket ascriptionto him on the title-page cannot be taken veryseriously. (Norcan the description of thepieces, for little more than half are airsd'opera; ertainlyLespetitsmarteauxwas always keyboard music and never an opera air.)Theindividualattributions, however,all seem to be plausible,though noverification has been yet undertaken.5Forurther nformationabout the relationship between Balbastreand Rameau see LaurenceLibin's article in this issue, pp.510-13.6' De la m6chaniquedes doigts',Piecesde clavessinavecunemethodesur a mechanique esdoigts Paris,1724); rue,hereit is the righthandthat passes over the left.

Dowland'sdarknessDiana PoultonI found Anthony Rooley'sexposition of the philosophyand imageryin certain of Dowland'ssongs ('Newlighton John Dowland's songs of darkness', EM Jan 83pp.6-21) extremely interesting. I think he makes aconvincing case for Dowland's having been fullyaware of the implication of the words in these songs.Nevertheless I am not convinced that my estimate ofhis characteris incorrect.

Rooley quotes from Thomas Fuller, without anyqualification, that Dowlandwas'a cheerful person ...passing his days in lawfulmerriment'p.6).ButFuller'sHistory of the Worthiesof England was publishedposthumously by his son John in 1662,36 yearsafterDowland's death. Fuller himself may never haveknownDowland, or he makestwoincorrectstatementswhen he writes of his 'being Servantin the ChapeltoQueen Elizabeth and KingJames':Dowlandwas neverin Elizabeth'sservice in any capacity, as is shown inthe Audit Office Declared Accounts and by his owncomplaints, and there is no evidence whatsoeverthathe was connected with the Chapel Royal during hisappointment to the court of James I. Surely if Fullerhad knownDowlandthese errorswouldnot have beenmade.

HenryPeacham,who claimed Dowlandas a friend,paintsaverydifferentpictureof himin his poemHeere,EARLYMUSIC OCTOBER1983 517

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I Acanon by Dowland on the first line of the chorale Vater nser mHimmelreich,ith the composer'ssignature; rom the Album micorum(1599-1606) of Johannes Cellarius of Nuremberg (London,BritishLibrary,Add.27579, f.88)

Philomel,n silence its alone,which appeared n MinervaBritannan1612.eachamescribesowlandnd ismusic as being out of fashion andneglected. Butat thetime his music was echoing throughmost of Europeas

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well as in England, and it can only be surmised thatPeachamwrotethus afterlistening to complaintsfromhis friend that he had not received at courtthemrecognition he believed his due. Later, n TheCompleatGentleannan(1622), Peacham wrote 'Of my good friendMasterDoctor Dowland, in regardhe has slipt manyopportunities of advancement'.

Dowland used on throuitle-pagef some of hispublications such mottos (in Latin)as: 'The arts thathelp mankind cannot help their master'; 'Whomfortunehas not blessed, he eitherragesorweeps';andthe description of himself as 'Gio. Dulande infoeliceInglese'. Certainlythese could be taken as being allpart of the construction of an artistic 'persona';butthere are other complaints of Dowland's that canhardlybe of such a kind.

In the entertainment Daphne and Apollo, playedbefore ElizabethI at Sudeley Castlein 1592, in whichDowland'ssong My heartand tonguewere twinneswasperformed,a little scene is introduced that is entirelyirrevelantto the argumentof the entertainment.In itthe character Do.' (abbreviationsare used for all thenames)has these lines: 'I have plaide so long with myfingers, that I have/beaten out of play all my goodfortune'.

But above all it is in his long letter written to SirRobert Cecil from Nuremberg n 1595, disclosing theplottingof the Englishin Florenceagainstthe queen'slife, that Dowland reveals his resentment at thethwartingof his ambition to secure a post at Elizabeth'scourt. Rooley states that Dowland undertook hisjourneyto Italyin order to meet Marenzio;and this isthe reason the composer gives in his FirsteBookeofSonges. But in his letter to Cecil he gives a quitedifferent reason for his wish to travel:Then n timepassingone Mr.Johnsondied I becameanhumble suitor for his place (thinkingmyself the mostworthiest)whereinI found manygood and honourablefriends hatspakefor me, but I saw that I was like to gowithoutt,and hatanymayhaveprefermentutI,wherebybegan o sound hecause,andguessed hatmyreligionwasmyhindrance.Whereuponmymindbeing roubleddesiredto get beyond he seas whichI durstnot attemptwithoutalicence fromsomeof the Privy ouncil ..Afterdescribinghis meetingwithone of the plottersinFlorence,who tried to persuadehim to join them andpromisedhim a large pension from the pope if he didso, Dowland goes on to say:Aftermydeparturecalled o mindourconference gotmeby myself weptheartily,o see myfortune o hard hatIshouldbecomeservant o thegreatest nemyof myprince:country:wife: children: nd friends: orwant...He admits to having been converted to Catholicismduringthe period he spent in France;but there is noevidence that he remaineda practisingCatholic on hisreturnto England; ndeed, he could not have obtainedthe degreeof Bachelorof Music at Oxford n 1588 hadany such suspicion been attached to his name.Perhaps the most telling argument against the ideathat his religion was his hindrance is the fact that hislicence to travel abroadwas signed by Cecil and theEarl of Essex; for this licence was expressly used topreventCatholics travellingas links between those athome and those abroadwho wereplottingthe queen'soverthrow. In fact, no one was appointed in JohnJohnson's place at court for four years, and the

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reduction in the number of court musicians maysimplyhave been a result of one of the manyattemptsto bringabout some economies in the heavy expend-iture of the royal household. It is clear that Dowlandabandonedhis stated intention of visiting Marenzio nRomeand fled to Nuremberg,wherehe wrote his letterto Cecil.

Dowland's inal complaintswere madeinAPilgrimesSolace (entered in the Stationers' Register on 28October 1611) and were directed against his fellowmusicians. In the most extreme terms he attacks'Cantors', young-men, professors of the lute', 'diversstrangers rombeyond the seas' and TobiasHume.Noothermusic book of the periodhad ever been used as amedium for abuse of this kind. On his appointmenttothe courtof James Ijust one yearlater,his complaintsceased. His ambition realized, he appears to haveenjoyed aperiodof tranquillityuntilhis deathin 1626.Surely these various complaints-together with theextraordinarilycavalier way in which he treated hislucrative employment at the court of Christian IVof Denmark,by overstayinghis leave and contractingheavy debts-suggest a man embittered by longfailure to achieve ambition,rather han one conscious-ly constructing an artistic persona for himself.

The ElizabethanCompetitiveFestival 1923-6ElizabethRocheIn the field of early music, where the time-scaleusually runs in centuries, a mere 60th anniversarymightnot seem veryremarkable.Yet it would be a pityto let 1983 go by withoutremembering he attemptof60 years ago to establish a competitive festival basedentirely on Elizabethan music. This was one of theboldest single ventures evermade in the long struggleto win for 'old', 'ancient' or 'early'music the recog-nition it deserves. Afterall, if the idea had taken root,and the Elizabethan Festival had survived to see itsdiamond jubilee, its influence on the revival of earlymusic could well have been considerable, and 1983would have been the occasion for celebration, notcommemoration.Such a venture could not of course have beeninitiated in a vacuum, and when the first plans weremade in 1922the omens musthave seemed particularlyauspicious. An Elizabethan festival would be an ideal

way of spreading the Tudor gospel by bringingtogether two important elements in contemporarymusical life: the 40-year-old competitive festivalmovement, with its probably unrivalled power toinfluence the musicaltaste of ordinarypeople, andthe'Elizabethanfever' of the 1920s.There was of course nothing new about theappearance of 16th-centurymusic at a competitivefestival.English(andsometimes Italian)madrigalsandTudoranthemshad been used as test-pieces since theearlydaysof the movement,as an essential ingredientin that process of bringing ordinary people intocontact with the best music, which was its mainobject. TheMusicalTimesmadethis clear in its reporton the 14th of Miss Wake'field'spioneering com-petitions at Kendalin 1899:It s indeed nthecharacterfthemusicsetas teststhat hevalueof thesecompetitionsargely onsists .. the elevenchoirsthathadpreparedwithsuchpainsMarenzio's ady,see onevery idecouldnot butbe the better orbecomingintimatewith such music,and less likelyto be contentedwiththesentimentalot-boilershatare,alas,so common.'

Fromabout 1900 onwards the competitive festivalmovement expanded with breathtaking speed: greatcities, fashionable resorts, small market towns andeven scatteredcountrydistrictsall had their festivals,and manyof theirsyllabuses habitually ncluded mad-rigals, whether for village-choir classes in ruralRutlandor Northumberland,or for the epic battlesfought out beside the Lancashireseaside as the crackchoirs of northern England strove for the covetedChallengeShieldsatBlackpooland Morecambe.Inthelatter case, the use of a madrigalas one of the threetests had a particular value: the difficult modernpieces, writtenfor these classes by such composers asBantock, increasingly tested the competitors' tech-nique at the expense of their interpretative powers,and as the Times eporton the 1912BlackpoolFestivalpointed out, the madrigalgave the choirs a chance to'concentrate their musical perceptions' on a fine butrelatively straightforwardpiece.2By 1920,when the movementwaswell on the waytorecoveringfromthe disruptioncaused byWorldWarI,the madrigalhad become partof the festivals' artistictradition,though of course the setting of madrigalsastests was no guaranteethat they would be adequatelyperformed(the available evidence suggests that oftenthey werenot). Butthe festivals were nevertheless wellplaced to capitalize on the wave of enthusiasm forElizabethanmusic that presently swept the country,

EARLY MUSIC OCTOBER 1983 519


dowland's darkness

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