There are a few parts you might call quotes, but the rest I would say
are just patterns. The two that jump out is the Neopolitan superimposed
over a D major chord--sorry for the modern harmonic terms--which is
perhaps a souvenir of I saw my Lady weep, as well as the cross
relation from In darkness. Not Dowland's only use of these devices, to
be sure: very Lachrimacious. Is it a quote, or the shared meal at the
muses banquet? You can say of course, hey, they use the same hexachord,
but to show borrowing it needs to maybe be a bit more.
Since we don't actually know the precise chronology, that muddies the
waters a bit as well. Perhaps "In Darkness" is borrowing from the
Fantasia.
The source, one of only a few solo pieces known to be by Dowland, is in
the Holmes ms. I visited it on a cold Cambridge morning, and the ink
gleamed from the page as if it had been quilled only a few days
earlier. I have papers on my desk that look older. Farewell, Dowland, I
hope I may return someday but wonder still. There is I believe one and
only one tiny error in the ms., and if you write the whole piece out in
four parts you can see where it is, or maybe isn't.
Dowland was noted in a quote for his unusual chromatic fantasias at the
court of Denmark, and it would be fair to say that these pieces had a
small but significant effect on Continental style.
__________________________________________________________________
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thu, December 8, 2011 7:35:08 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Dowland's Farewell
I recently heard Paul O'Dette perform, and he mentioned that Dowland's
Farewell (from the Cambridge ms?), beautifully and masterfully quotes
up to 14 of Dowland's own compositions - making it a perfect Farewell.
Has anyone written about this, and dissected the Farewell to identify
the various 'quotations'? This is my absolute favourite ren lute piece,
and I would be most interested to learn more. Thanks
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