John Dowland
John Dowland (1563-1626) English late-Renaissance composer and lute player. A Roman Catholic, he was not offered a post at Elizabeth I's Protestant court, so he worked for many years at that of the king of Denmark. Among his works are several books of solo lute works, lute songs (for one voice and lute), part-songs with lute accompaniment, and the Lachrymae set of viol de gamba consort music, also with a lute. His pavane, "Lachrymae antiquae" was one of the big hits of the seventeenth century.
Downland's best known lute song is probably "Flow, my tears," the first verse of which runs:
- Flow, my tears, fall from your springs,
- Exiled for ever, let me mourn
- Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings,
- There let me live forlorn.
Dowland's lute music is a recurring theme in Philip K. Dick's science fiction.
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