The earliest dompe that I know of is "My Lady Carey's Dompe," an English
keyboard piece from around 1530 (longtime favourite of mine). Does
anyone know of anything else?
The Affect of these pieces (Dumps, spelled how you will, and Downs) is
"melancholic," but the meaning of that word has changed since the 16th
c. Then it could be described as
"The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and
thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly)
pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be
on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities
such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and
cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are
self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic
is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to
think of others."
I suppose the closest I can get in modern terms would be
"contemplative," "meditative," "thoughtful," so it could be happy or sad
or neutral - as the Shakespeare quotes indicate.
The delight of the pieces seems to me to lie in the contrast between the
steady (plodding?) bass line and the melody playing against it.
Stephen Fryer
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