At 05:22 PM 6/16/06 -0400, John Howell wrote:
>A student of Josquin tells us that the first thing he taught 
>his singers was how to set the words to the music!

That's very interesting, and no wonder why we have such marvelously
different editions.

>The best way to approach it is this.  Remember that the composer 
>started with the words, so that's where you have to start.  He 
>(seldom she) composed the music to fit the words.

I suppose that's right most of the time. With Dowland, though, much of his
poetry -- including that one, I believe, from the first book of songs --
was his own. And he was a singer and lutenist, too, so who knows what went
on between improvisation and publication.

Dennis









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