Flow my Tears (John Dowland)

• Ayre - a song for Lute

-Based on a pre-existing work - "Pavan Lachrimae" (Tearful Pavan). A Pavan is a slow processional dance in duple time

• Published 1600

• Intended for professional performance at court or by amateur musicians at home

• Melancholy (popular with Elizabethan England) atmoshpere - a characteristic of the composer

• 4/4 time, with slow Pavan tempo

• Syncopation

• Dotted Rhythms

• Ornamental, Shorter note lengths near cadences

• Typical Pavan structure - three parts (Tripartite). Each section is repeated 

-AA BB CC

• Three main cadences in A minor:

- Bars 1-8, end with a perfect cadence

- Bars 9-16, end with an imperfect cadence

- Bars 17-24, end in a perfect cadence

• Not constantly functional. Frequent Cadences - Perfect and Phrygian (IVb-V)

• Other devices

- Suspension e.g. 7-6 at bars 1-2 and a 4-3 at bar 7

- False Relation (like a "blues notes") at bar 5 between G in Lute and the G# in the vocal. Reflects sad words

- Tirce de Picardie at bars 8 and 24 - C# in the chord on A major

• A minor with Aeolian inflections (descending melodic minor scale)

• Second section starts in C, but finished with a Phrygian cadence in A minor

• Overall range of a 9th (D-E)

• Diminished 4th (G#-C) at bar 22

• Opening stepwise descending line matches the text describing falling tears

• Syllabic, except for ornamental figuration in bars 7 and 23

• Line broken by rests to convey tears and sighs at bar 12

• First syllable of "Happie" given the highest note in melody - word painting

• Verbal and musical accentuation not always synchronised

• Voice and lute (plus bass viol on recording)

• Melody and accompaniment which hovers between homophony and free counterpoint

• Some dialouge or antiphony e.g. bar 12

• Brief imitation, bars 13-14

• Scholars believe that pitch in the late Renaissance was lower tahn it is today, which is reflected by the fact that the performance in the CD is a tone lower than the music printed in the score