Dear Stewart: Thanks for sharing these interesting insights. I think the text of "Say Love" is rife with references to the first Queen Elizabeth and, like many other songs by Dowland, seems like it may have been wrenched from its context and extracted from a Masque or some other courtly entertainment. For instance, "See the moon" seems like a direct reference to Cynthia, etc. Another interesting snippet of melody found in the final strain of the QE galliard seems like a quote from "Over the broom, Bessie." Best wishes, RA > Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:30:16 +0000 > To: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Subject: [LUTE] Say love and Queen Elizabeth > > Dear Monica, > > > Thank you for your two messages, and for correcting my mix-up of French > queens. Yes, it was Catherine, not Marie, who was mother of Queen > Elizabeth's "Frog". > > > The Aria del Gran Duca was first performed at the Florentine Intermedii > in 1589, and eventually became one of those tunes which everyone knew, > and it turned up in many different guises. I am sure you are familiar > with it yourself. Dowland visited Florence in 1595, and played the lute > to Ferdinando I. He would no doubt have heard about Ferdinando's > sumptuous wedding which had taken place six years earlier. He would > have met Italian composers there, and it seems unlikely that the famous > Aria would have passed him by. "Now, oh now" was published two years > later in 1597. > > > Catherine de' Medici was a Medici, so her son, the Duc d'Alencon, was > the son of a Medici. Ferdinando I, at whose marriage the Aria was first > performed, was also a Medici. There is a Medici link between Fernando > and Alencon. > > > Ferdinando was a great duke, the Gran Duca of the "Aria del Gran Duca". > Alencon was also a duke, le Duc d'Alencon. Ferdinando and Alencon were > both dukes. > > > Much of what I wrote was already in the public domain, and the link > between Alencon and "Now, oh now" has been accepted by most people now. > What I think is a new discovery, is spotting the link between "Queen > Elizabeth's Galliard" and "Say love". As with "Now, oh now", it's not > just the melody notes which are the same; it's the bass and harmony > which are the same too. > > > Best wishes, > > > Stewart. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Monica Hall [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: 23 January 2014 19:46 > To: Stewart McCoy > Cc: Lutelist > Subject: Re: [LUTE] Say love and Queen Elizabeth > > > Well - I don't know about the rest of it - but the Duc d'Alencon was > the > > youngest son of Catherine de Medici, the wife of Henri II of France. > Marie > > de Medici was the second wife of Henri IV and the mother of Louis XIII. > > The Duc d'Alencon died in 1584 and he wasn't a Medici grand duke - he > was a > > prince of the house of Valois. The Medici wedding was between > Ferdinando > > de Medici who was only very distantly related to Catherine and the > French princess Christine of Lorraine of the Guise family. The link > with Dowland > > seems rather tenuous. Would he even have known about the Medici > wedding?. > > Monica > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Stewart McCoy" <[1][email protected]> > > To: "Lute Net" <[2][email protected]> > > Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 7:11 PM > > Subject: [LUTE] Say love and Queen Elizabeth > > > > > Dear All, > > > > > > > > > Earlier today I was accompanying Dowland's "Say love, if ever thou > > > didst find". I remarked to the singer and gamba player, that people > > > today often assume the song refers to Queen Elizabeth. Though not > > > named, she is likely to be the song's "she". > > > > > > > > > A similar use of the word "she" occurs in "Now, oh now I needs must > > > part" and "Can she excuse". The titles of their instrumental > settings, > > > "The Frog Galliard" (Frog = Duc d'Alen,con) and "The Earl of Essex > > > Galliard", point us to the names of the characters referred to in > "Now, > > > oh now" and "Can she", which in turn suggest that the Queen must be > the > > > unnamed "she". > > > > > > > > > The first few notes of "Now, oh now" match the first few notes of > the > > > well-known "Aria del Gran Duca", a piece first performed in 1589 > in > > > Florence for a Medici wedding. The Duc d'Alenc,on was the son of > Marie > > > de Medici, Queen of France, so Dowland appears to be using music > for a > > > grand duke at a successful Medici wedding in his song about a > failed > > > courtship by a different Medici grand duke. > > > > > > > > > In the second part of "Now, oh now", there is a modulation to the > > > supertonic; there is a similar modulation in the second part of > > > "Monsieur's Almain". "Monsieur" was the name commonly used for the > Duc > > > d'Alenc,on; "Frog" was Queen Elizabeth's nickname for him. > > > > > > > > > Many years ago I wrote on this list about "Now, oh now" and its > > > associations, and there were some who were not convinced. They > argued > > > that such things were mere coincidences, yet musical references > abound > > > in music from this period. Another example is a quotation from "The > > > Sacred End Pavan" in "Henry Unton's Funeral", showing that Henry > has > > > come to his own sacred end. Dowland's "Farewell" has links with a > > > madrigal by Weelkes, and references to Dowland's Lachrimae for > weeping > > > (e.g. John Bennet's "Weep oh mine eyes") are ubiquitous. > > > > > > > > > If the first few notes of "Now, oh now" point to the Duc > d'Alenc,on, > > > what about the first few notes of "Say love"? This afternoon I > noticed > > > that they are exactly the same as the first few notes of Dowland's > > > "Queen Elizabeth's Galliard". Was Dowland using his own galliard to > > > show that the song really is about the Queen? > > > > > > > > > Best wishes, > > > > > > > > > Stewart McCoy. > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > > [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. mailto:[email protected] > 2. mailto:[email protected] > 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
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