In Darkness would have to have been written before Galliard to
Lachrimae. Dowland's pieces can all be reliably dated by the way the
courses are used.
The internal metrical structure of the poem, which relies on an
Alexandrine pattern, suggests that it is a translation of a
continental model, probably French. The reversal of "living die" by
Coprario is strong evidence that the original poem was modified for a
message of redemption for the funeral service. Other modifications to
the original may have been made as well, as in the famous case of "O
Solitude".
If we were to go by publication dates for lute music that would
basically invalidate all lute musicology for English music, owing to
the situation with printing licences and the practice ofthe time.
Therfore, the publication date is only relevant as terminus ante quem.
Certainly going by Var. of 1610, all of those pieces are early works.
A for the Poem, the second verse on a number of stylistic grounds
appears to have been written by a different person,
The line you quote
'And thus my hapless ioy I haste to thee'.
Is in pentameter, whereas Dowland's poem is in Alexandrine, if you
repeat the word living, which Dowland does in his setting.
Just reading the second verse you can see that the tone, structure,
style, meter and level of skill are all different. The tone shifts from
complex to simple, from dark to practical, and the language is not as
refined.
Now it could be the the "heroic singlet": breaks the Alexandrine line
for effect, but the repetion by Dowland seems to be taking a cue from
the Poem, which would make the meter internally consistent, and the
revised version different.
I think the answer will come when and if we find the model for the
poem, but I am convinced that the second verse is in a different style,
and the dating for Dowlan'd works, while not absolute, is fairly
standard.
To see whether the style, meter and tone are relevant and internally
consisted, let us examine the rest of the poems in Coprario's
collection. The rest of the poems by Coprario rely heavily on English
pentameter and variation of English and Italian types of meter with
some short lines mixed in. The following is absolutely typical of
English lyric from this time. solid pentameter with an heroic couplet
also in pentameter
My ioy is dead, and cannot be reuiu'de.
Fled is my ioy, and neuer may returne :
Both of my ioy, and of my selfe depriu'de,
Far from all ioy I sing, and singing mourne.
O let no tender hart or gentle eare
Partake my passions, or my plainings heare.
There are no other poems in Alexandrine in this collection. However,
the language, meter, tone and style of the texts suggest that the same
author is writing all of the poems except the first verse of In
Darkness. That is the only one that is substantially different in
style.
Note the closing lines are in the same style and meter. In addition,
there are several phrases that use a sort of boilerplate style of
composition which would never have been used by a skilled poet, eg
Far from all ioy I sing, and singing mourne.
Which is just a bad line of poetry with a very awkward chiasmus from
sing to singing.
The unusual repetion of the word "joy" four times is also the sort of
rhetorical device that a trained poet would never use, without taking
the edge off the structure somehow. The overall sense is that the poem
was hastily composed.
However, one cannot disprove the theory that Dowland heard the song,
liked it, notably changed the text, corrected the meter of the last
line, left off the other verse or verses, and set it for an earlier
style lute. It is Russell's teapot writ small.
As strange as that sounds, one has only to look at the settings of
Jonson's Her Triumph" to see all the variations that can be introduced.
I just feel the weight of evidence, including a detailed analysis of
all the poetry as well as alteration to the text, points to the Dowland
version of the poem preceding the Coprario, and futher that the second
verse is in a different style.
dt
On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 10:02 PM, David Tayler
<[email protected]> wrot=
e:
> Dowland =A0was reluctant to publish his most important works.
Of course, anything is possible. But some facts before theories.
Coprario published his set of song in 1606 on the death of Baron
Mountjoy. The second verse of In Darknes makes explicit reference to
him:
'And thus my hapless ioy I haste to thee'.
We can see similar references in the other Funerall Teares. Read
them as a =
set.
Dowland's song is published in 1610. Barring mss. versions of
Dowland's song, dated before 1606, turning up, I think the obvious
is
that Coprario was first.
But, of course, anything is possible.
David
--=20
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