On Dec 2, 2009, at 8:58 PM, Tom Draughon wrote: > it seems > obvious to me that "The ground, the ground shall sorrow > be..." has multiple connotations - physically ground as in > the foundation of a building, and musically ground as in > variations on a ground. "The roof despair..." and "...walls > of marble black..." are obvious comparisons to a room or > building, but could they have musical connotations as > well?? Could the roof be the highest note in the range of > the song?
Is it? > Following this line of thought, what would > "The walls of marble, black" mean? Am I just pulling this > out of my hat, or did the Elizabethans talk about their > music in terms like these, other than ground? Elizabethan composers were just as inclined to illustrate the words with appropriate musical figures as Bach was. But Dowland did not choose to use a ground bass to illustrate "the ground shall sorrow be," obvious though such a device might have been. It's good to be aware of the potential for word-painting, and you're absolutely right to look for it, but sometimes a note is just a note. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
