The situation as to which version came first is of a course a classic
Russell's Teapot (or Celestial Teapot, if you prefer).
Anyone can say the poem was written by anyone, including the Earl of
Essex, and it is impossible to prove it either way.
I stand by my metrical and stylistic analysis. It is highly unlikely
that both verses were written at the same time or by the same person,
or by the same author as the rest of the verses.
If you read the second verse of In Darkness, it just is not up to the
level of the first verse.
The highly unusual Alexandrines clearly point to a continental source.
Any explanation of the sequence of composition must explain all of the
unusual features of the works. How do we explain the meter?
One could produce the author's original manuscript--which I haven't
seen produced--but that would of course prove absolutely nothing. The
reason that people thought that Vivaldi's concertos were written by
Bach is because they ignored the stylistic analysis in favour of
autographs in Bach's handwriting. Only Bach could have written these
pieces, they wrote. It would be like saying that Holmes wrote Dowland's
pieces.
Presuming that Dowland changed the order of the words to make more
sense is a logical inexactitude. They can't make more sense if no one
is exactly sure what they mean. And, in addition, that would imply that
the original poem makes less sense in some imaginary context, not to
mention that there is no evidence that Dowland himself wrote or changed
any of the text, or wrote or changed any of the texts of any of his
songs.. Stylistically the music must have been written earlier.
If you have the original signed, dated manuscript with the poet's name
on it, I for one would be fascinated to see it, since it is one of the
most important of the English lute songs. It would provide a clue as to
the meter.
As far as the date of 1610 for Variety of Lute Lessons and Musical
Banquet, it is absolutely impossible that all of that music was written
in 1610, or just before 1610, and that is clearly reflected in the
manuscript sources. The music was written way earlier. So the date is
unfortunately not relevant as far as Dowland's compositions.
As far as the liner notes, equating Coprario's work to a song cycle is
a bit of a stretch. It isn't Wintereisse, which is good. "Danyel's
Grief Keep Within" is more of a song cycle in any case, also from
1606--interesting to try to find which was really the first "funeral
teares."
I quote from the New Grove:
"A group of individually complete songs designed as a unit (aptly
described in German as zusammenhaengender Complex), for solo or
ensemble voices with or without instrumental accompaniment. Song cycles
can be difficult to distinguish from song collections, which were
frequently presented in a planned design. They may be as brief as two
songs (dyad-cycles) or as long as 30 or more (e.g. Schoecks Das holde
Bescheiden op.62). The term song cycle did not enter lexicography until
1865, in Arrey von Dommers edition of Kochs Musikalisches Lexikon."
Unfortunately,under this definition, any number of songs could qualify,
including psalm settings, but the term was not designed to refer to
lute songs, which is why it did not appear till 1865--it is a romantic
concept.
As for the connection to the meditation sequences of St Ignatius, I
don't see the connection there except as to the oft theorized general
influence on Elizabethan writers such as Donne, Herbert and Crashaw.
But the author of these verses is almost certainly not Donne, Herbert
or Crashaw.
Since the liner notes cannot say who wrote the poem, or when they wrote
them, they do not shed any light on the sequence of events, nor do they
explain the unusual features of the work--features which any
Elizabethan would instantly have heard and understood.
Carolyn Abbate's classic work on the nature of the urtext is relevant
here. There may be in fact no original, merely a set of revisions. Or
it may be that it was written hastily for the funeral, some of the
verses were rushed, and Dowland poached it and changed the text to a
more gloomy affect.. But it also seems that Dowland did not really copy
anything from anybody--they generally copied from him. One can only
wonder.
Respectfully,
dt
Re the recent discussion as to what 'In
Darkness let me dwell' might be about:
As usual, David van Ooijen got it
right, but didn't point out that because the
setting of both verses of the poem was clearly written expressly for
this
Penelope Rich/ Mountjoy 'Funeral Tears'
sequence, it must pre-date Dowland's setting as included in 'A
Musicall Banquet'.
Dowland composed his own setting of the first verse (of the 1606
poem) some time before 1610,
presumably making the change from 'dying live' to 'living die'
himself, to help make slightly more sense in the new context of the
single-versed song.
Coprario's (or Penelope's) poems can date no earlier than 1606,
because Mountjoy died earlier that same year,
and there is no evidence that these poems, addressed directly to
Penelope Rich, existed in any form prior to the publication.
Good though the Coprario duet setting is, Dowland must have decided
that he could do an even
better setting, and presumably thought that, once removed
from the context of the 'Funeral Teares' cycle,
the second verse was no longer necessary. The song has far more
impact in Dowland's setting, and it is hard to imagine
it continuing for a second verse after his extraordinary (and
unique) final measure.
The text of Coprario's second verse confirms my suggestion (in my
notes to the paraphrase
of this song text at [1]http://www.johndowland.co.uk/index.htm)
that the 'dwelling' referred to in the song is a black marble tomb,
albeit a metaphorical
one.
I hope that the notes below might help shed a bit more light on 'In
darkness':
They are (lightly edited) extracts from Anthony Rooley's sleeve
notes to The Consort of Musicke's 1981
LP recording of Coprario's 'Funeral Teares for the death of the
Right Honorable the Earle of
Devonshire. 1606' (Decca DSLO 576)
"Sing lady, sing thy Dev'nshires funerals,
And charme the Ayre with thy delightful voyce,
Let lighter spirits grace their Madrigals,
Sorrow doth in the saddest notes rejoyce.
Fairest of ladies since these songs are thine,
Now make them as thou art thy selfe, devine.
The devoted servant of true
noblenesse, John Coprario."
Thus John Coprario personalises his dedication of the 'Funeral
Teares of
1606, the first true song cycle in the English Language. The
characters
involved in this elegiac cycle were two of the most renowned and
colourful
members of the Court at that time: Charles Blount, eighth Baron
Mountjoy and
Earl of Devonshire (1563-1606), and Penelope Devereux (1563-1607),
later
Penelope Rich, finally Blount, sister of the Earl of Essex (...)
John Coprario's song cycle was composed for Penelope, to ease her
grief and
to console her spirit. The purpose of the work is cathartic:
Penelope's
distraught grief (all of the poems are written in the first person,
and may
even be by her) is transmuted through emotional outburst, guided by
the
disciplines of poetry and music, to a wholehearted acceptance of the
glorious life hereafter. It is ultimately a confirmation of faith.
There are many similarities in the unfolding of the cycle to the
meditation
sequences of St. Ignatius Loyola, whose 'Spiritual Exercises' of
1548 had
spread throughout Christendom by the end of the century (...) It
is a
personal variation on the meditation sequence, intended for
Penelope's use,
and made public in print to help clear Blount's name (...)
The sense and organisation in 'Funeral Teares' is subtle and
skilful.
Throughout there is a play on the word 'joy' (referring to Blount's
title
'Mountjoy'), and throughout Penelope is speaking (...)
The heart of the cycle lies at stage four, a distraught cry from the
heart,
the fullest outburst of grief:
" In darkness let me dwell (etc) "
Here, in lavish detail, continued in a second stanza, is the living
tomb in
which the widow desires to languish. It is Penelope's monument
erected to
her grief. These famous words were also set in part by John Dowland.
"
Anthony Rooley 1981
Best wishes to all,
David Hill
To get on or off this list see list information at
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--
References
1. http://www.johndowland.co.uk/index.htm
2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
