Dowland: The frog galliard P23 & P23a, and the song 'Now, O now ...'

At last, a piece that's not too difficult to play (if you ignore the graces). The frog galliard was very popular in Dowland's time, and gave rise to versions by other lutenists, and also to J D's song Now, O now I needs must part.

In this post, rather than show the difficult variations in the originals, I have included two versions of each of the two strains (A and B): the first and simpler is from P 23 (ascribed to Anon), while the second is from P 23a (bearing J D's signature) and is very similar but with some bars more syncopated and with many graces (twiddly bits). These graces are indicated in the lute version by '#' whose interpretation is uncertain. Following Poulton's lute tutor I have plumped for mordents, where the grace note is higher than the main note on descending scales, and vice versa. But, it's up to you: I find them pretty difficult, and will need a lot of practice to make them musical, so I tend to leave them out.

Bars 7 and 14 of the first strain are versions of the 'Solus-cum-sola motif' (see previous post). The first 5 bars of the second strain are reminiscent of Greensleeves.

The Duc d'Alençon et d'Anjou, aged 29.
By an unknown painter, via Wikipedia.

There is conjecture that the title refers to the Duc d'Alençon et d'Anjou, Queen Elizabeth's most long-serving suitor, whom she affectionately referred to as 'My Frog'. Whether it's true or not, it does show how long this reference to the French nation has persisted amongst les rosbifs, and gives me the opportunity to include the duc's portrait as a young man (and much Elizabeth's junior).

The air 'Now, O now I needs must part' was published by Mr D in his First booke of songes and, though simple, follows the galliard quite closely. I have appended the words to the pdf transcript, as it helps to bear them in mind whilst playing the galliard.

You can find the transcriptions here:

• pdf (quick preview)
• pdf (auto download)
• TablEdit
• MIDI (as unsubtle as ever, especially the mordents)

Dowland: Solus cum sola (P 10)

Here is a Dowland piece of which I am particularly fond. It repeatedly features a motif, in various forms, which occurs also in quite a few of his lute solo pieces*. Since Solus cum sola is written for a 6-course lute, it is probably quite early in Mr D's canon, so this might be the first airing of the motif:

John Dowland's favourite (?) motif as it first occurs in Solus cum sola

I have found a similar motif in a Fantasie by Le Roy, published in Paris almost half a century earlier; you can see it here.

The lute original is a pavane in the usual 3 strains (A, B, C), the first two followed by divisions or variations (A’, B’), the third by a repeat.

§ A’ looks particularly daunting, but due to the slow beat (44 bpm in Nigel North's recording) it should be achievable with practice. I did try to simplify it, but as I lack Mr D's genius it all sounded a bit bland, so here it is in its full glory.

Strain C caused problems in transcription because much of the activity is on the lower lute strings which, in our case, we do not have. So, in § C the base line is raised an octave, and in § C’ I have taken the liberty of reversing the two voices, which does rather change the feeling of the piece.

It's not too difficult to play if you stick to playing the three main themes (A, B, C) at first. Once they are fixed in the mind, the variations are easier to understand (if not to play.) It being a slow piece, many of the chords sound good if arpeggiated.

Woodcut by Sebald Beham
Say no more!

The title, according to Diana Poulton (see Sources page for refs) is a truncation of the Latin Solus cum sola non cogiabuntur orare pater noster; literally: "A lone man with a lone woman won't be thinking of saying prayers". There seems to be some connection, now lost, with the Fleetwood family of Buckinghamshire: the next pavane (Sola sine sola) was dedicated to Mrs Brigide Fleetwood, whose father had 18 (or possibly 26) children by means of two wives. Not much time for praying there, then.

Poulton and Lam think that the piece is based on "The dilly song", which is a variant of "Green grow the rushes-O" (there's a good Wikipedia article), but it all seems a bit of a stretch of the imagination to me. ["Dilly" is an interesting word: it can be a variant of "silly",  or  where I come from (SE Wales) it means a handcart.]

You can read a fuller analysis of the piece here, although some of the links are extinct.

You can find the transcriptions here:

• pdf (quick preview)
• pdf (auto download)
• TablEdit
• MIDI (as unsubtle as ever)

PS Here is another version (from an MS in the Cambridge University Library) of the division to strain A (ignore the bar numbers):

_____________
* I have been meaning to make a list of all the pieces in which I can detect the motif

Dowland: Mr Dowland's midnight (P 99) [low 3rd]

Midnight
(thanks to an unknown source for this image)

I have already posted a version of this piece here, but transposed to a higher key to fit more of the music in. It is one of Dowland's easiest pieces, but the transposition made it a little more difficult in execution. I have therefore produced the present version using as far as possible the native lute fingering.

One minor annoyance in making uke versions of lute music is that the note A3 (alias a) on the lute becomes B3 (= b) on the uke, which means that it has to be played on the 4th string, which is then not be available for a lower voice. In this arrangement, I have assumed that the 3rd string is tuned to B3, so you will have to lower it by a semitone to play the piece.

In previous posts I have refrained from asking you to retune your instrument, in case it puts you off playing the pieces; but then I noticed that guitar adaptations of lute music often specify "3rd to F#", so I thought "if guitarists can do it, so can we".

You can find the transcriptions here:

• pdf (quick preview)
• pdf (auto download)
• TablEdit
• MIDI (as unsubtle as ever)

You will probably want to add your own graces or other ornaments on the repeats to add a little variety – there is plenty of space to spare.

Dowland: Mrs Vauxes Gigge, preceded by A Coy Joy (P 57, P 80)

Will Kemp dancing a jig (gigge) from Norwich to London, 1600
(From Wikipedia)

Well, my last four postings were pretty hard to play, so I thought I'd go for a few Dowland pieces that were more accessible. When I played through the lute tabs of the first, Mrs Vauxes Gigge (on an old uke with the 3rd string lowered a semitone to match the intervals on a lute) it all seemed rather familiar. Looking back through my transcripts, I found that it was an elaboration of A Coy Joy, aka A Coy Toy, which I had posted here earlier.

So, what I have done is to combine the two pieces to make it clear how Mr D developed a simple piece by adding new divisions (runs of short notes) and by varying the harmonies. I have made a stab at indicating the main chord names above the tabs, which may be anachronistic but does help analysis of the harmonic structure.

There are two main themes:
a, a 4-bar theme, set in Dm,
b, a 4-bar theme, set mainly in the relative major (F), and
c, a 6-bar theme mostly in F but ending in D.
In A Coy Joy we have sections a1, b1 and c1
In Mrs Vauxes Gigge we have sections a2, a2', b2, b2', c2, c2'.
(The primes indicate variations.)
In the score I have indicated section names above the notation.

Please don't let this analysis put you off. The Joy is pretty easy, and the Gigge not too bad as one knows where it comes from. As usual, one has to work finding the most efficient fingerings, which are not always obvious. I haven't indicated them here as we all have different preferences, and I must admit that I find it hard enough to take in the notes without looking at all those extra little numbers in the score.

You can find the transcriptions here:

• pdf (quick preview)
• pdf (auto download)
• TablEdit
• MIDI (as unsubtle as ever)

I hope you have fun playing them.