A galliard
“Mignarda” translates, in modern French, as “cute”, which Diana Poulton thinks refers to a particular way of dancing a galliard, as it is certainly not a cute piece. Nigel North gives the alternative title “Henry Noel’s Galliard”.
It comprises three strains of 8, 16, and 8 bars, each repeated in variation. The piece seems to be a homage to the cadence motif, first appearing in bar 7, that I think of as “diddle-iddle-iddle-oodle thud”, followed by (quite pedestrian) conclusions. Not a piece I would put in Dowland’s top ten.
SOURCE: Poulton D, Lam B, Eds. 1995. The collected lute music of John Dowland, Edn 3. Faber Music, London.
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