DOWLAND, JOHN ( b. London, England 1563; d. London, 19 (?) Feb 1626 )
Little is known of Dowland's early years. In his teens he was in the service of the English ambassador in Paris. He returned to London in the 1580s and received a degree in music at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1588.
In 1594 he left England again for Europe, having failed to get an appointment as a lute player at the court of Elizabeth I. His Catholic associations - which may have been the reason for his failure to find favour at court - led him to a peripheral involvement in a papist conspiracy against the English throne. Returning to England in 1597, he was reinstated in Elizabeth's favour and published his first book of ayres.
Still failing to find work at the English court, he was employed instead at the court of the king of Denmark. There he wrote a second book of ayres, which was published in England and had as great a popular success as the first.
In 1603 he returned home to publish a third book of ayres, as well as arrangements of his Lachrimae for the viols. The Lachrimae consists of seven variations on his own song Flow, my tears. Like his contemporary Rosseter - and as was expected of the composers of his time - Dowland could play as well as compose music, write as well as set words.
After another period abroad he was given a court appointment in 1612, by James I, who had succeeded Elizabeth. Having attained this coveted position, Dowland seems to have lost his inspiration as a composer. However he remained at court until his death.
Besides his ayres, Dowland wrote arrangements of psalms and a great deal of published and unpublished lute music. His main interest seems to have been in the solo voice. Like the later composers of lieder, his object was to create songs in which words and music are closely related, and expressive of each other. The popularity of his ayres, even to the present day, is an indication of his success.
