A battle piece, in one easy and two more challenging versions
The galliards are arranged for low-G ukulele from the transcriptions for keyboard in Poulton D, Lam B, 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland. Faber Music, London.
Version P 20 is made from the transcription on pp 87 – 88 in P & L, which was derived from MSS at Cambridge University Library (Dd.2.11.(B), f. 7v) and the Thysius MS at Leiden (f. 22).
Version P 20a is taken from the Editorial Notes (p. 323) in P & L, and was transcribed from the Tollemache Lute Book, f. 6v. The 22nd bar seems to have been duplicated and I have omitted it.
Both versions have been transposed from Em (corresponding to the original lute fingering) to Gm, to make full use of the limited range of a 4-course instrument. (Em is not the most playable key on the uke.)
P & L say that the piece “contains material derived from the 16th-century genre of compositions in which the sounds of battle were imitated." A bit of a stretch for a small instrument – we can but try. Some of the chords can be filled in and strummed ad lib to give a more percussive effect.
This is the nearest that JD gets to the “strum and twiddle” format that I have described in posts on the Osborn Commonplace Book and other English guitar MSS, etc. I do not understand why this militaristic piece should be given the composer's name, as he doesn't seem to have been particularly warlike.
There are two more companion pieces on the battle theme, P 33 and P 40, which are included in this blog. The opening 4-bar strain in P 20 is found in P 33 (§B) and P 40 (strains a and b). A similar militaristic piece, from about 50 years previously, is Le Roy’s “Galliarde de la Gamba”.
The structure is simple: three 4-bar phrases, each followed by a variation, often using divisions. I have laid out the score with 4 bars to the line to make this clear. The divisions are easy to understand but not so easy to play to speed, so I have included a simplified arrangement, in which we have §A from P 20 followed by §A from P 20a, and so on, but no fancy divisions.
The harmonies involve
§A: i, V, resolving on I
§B: vii, III, i resolving on V
§C: iii, iv, V resolving on I
This does not appear to be based on familiar Renaissance grounds, unlike the Le Roy galliarde which was underlain by the later folia progression, although both use similar harmonies.
Available to download free from the following links (now on Google Drive):
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