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Dowland and "Cease Sorrows Now"Author(s): Kenneth K. S. TeoSource: Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, T. 36, Fasc. 1/2 (1995), pp. 5-10Published by: Akadmiai KiadStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/902388 .

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DowlandandCeaseSorrowsNowKennethK.S. TEOHong Kong

By 1597JohnDowlandwasalready famousname n Englandas anumber f eulogiesreadily estify.lAndevidently heremusthavebeensufficientdemandor lutesongs in generalandhis songs in particularohaveledWilliamBarley o publish evenof hisworks n 1596,andMor-ley to adda makeshiftutepart n his 1597canzonetpublication.Realis-ingthat hetimewasripe,Dowlandssuedhis songsin 1597,2usta yearafter heexpiryof Byrd'sprintingmonopoly nd,presumablyo achieveawidercirculation,rrangedismusicas soloswith uteaccompanimentswell as inpart-songormat.

Perhapshe mosttangibleevidenceof Dowland's kilfulchromaticmanipulationn TheFirstBookofAirsis to be found n thesolo songAllye whom ove (I, 14). The manyparallelsbetween his airandThomasWeelkes' hree-voiceCeasesorrowsnowfromthe Englishmadrigalist'sfirstpublication,he TheMadrigalso 3, 4, 5 and6 Voicess particularlynoteworthy, nd it is quitepossiblethat Dowland'swork mighthaveservedas a vitalcatalyst n Weelkes'experimentationithconspicuouschromaticismnasearlyasaround 597.In his firstset of 1597,Weelkes eems to be feelingaroundhetaskof composition.Unlike Morley who had priorexperience n writingmotets,andwho perhapspossessedan easy capacity or ideas(if some-' Among those who admired him were ThomasWhythorneand ThomasCampion. The two men sangtheirpraises in 1593 and 1595respectively.See DianaPoulton,JohnDowlclnd,London, 1972, pp. 30, 46, 5 1et

pclssim.2 Altough TheFirst Bowkof Airs were printed n the same year as Weelkes' Mcldrigcllso 3, 4, 5 cmd6Voices, there is little doubt that many of his songs were alreadyin circulation as his remarkas n the PrefclceindicatesandBarley's illegal publicationconfirms.

StucliaMu.icolos,^ics cs(lemise ScientiarumHun^aricae36/1-2, I9MS. p. S-l ()(X)39-3266851$ 5.(X) 95 AtademiaiKiado, Budape.vt


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6 K. Teo: Dowland and Cease Sorrows Nowtimes of a facile sort),he appears o have experienced ome difficulty ninventingand sustaining hematicmotives.Perhaps, s David Brownhasnoted,3 his initial nadequacymayexplainwhy he reserves he longerver-ses for the three-voicepieces, leaving he manipulationndcontrolof thebigger ive- and six-voiceforces to the simplecanzonet tyle which,withthe relative onstraintmposedby its briefstructure ndrepetitive ection-al character,rees him to some extentfrom havingto inventor developcomplex ideas, such as would be required n an open form like themadrigal.As it is, the formalnature f the canzonet ctsas a lightto guidehim along the way. But even so, such a piece as Yourbeauty t allureth(no. 13) suggests more a student exercise than the work of an ac-complishedmaster.Not surprisingly,t has recentlybeen discovered hatWeelkes eanedheyvily on the work of SalamoneRossi, paricularlyorthe six-voicepieces in theMadrigals o 3, 4, 5 and 6 Voices.4Givenhis relative ackexperience,t wouldnot be altogether urpris-ing thatWeelkesappears o have turned o the exampleof JohnDowlandfor help. Even thoughDouwland's irst publication,The First Book ofAirs, only appearedn 1597,the sameyearas Weelkes'Madrigals o 3, 4,S and 6 Voices,we can be certain hatsome of his compositionsmust al-readyhave been in circulation.This is confirmedby the publication fWilliamBarley'sA NewBookof Tablaturen 1596which ncludes,amongthe work of otherEnglishcomposers, even lute solos by Dowland.Al-thoughonly one of these appears n TheFirst Book of Airs,s t does notnecessarilymean that no othercompositions n the songbook, ncludingthe more seriousnumbers,were not already n circulation.Resemblancesin thematicmaterial etweena number f pieces fromWeelkes'1597 setand Dowland's first songbook suggests that Weelkes probablycameacross omeDowland'sworkbefore hey werepublished.6

5Thomas Weelkes, A Biogrclphiccll mdCriticcllStudy,London, i969.4 See JudithCohen, Thomas Weelkes'Borrowingsfrom Salamone Rossi, Music & Letters, lxvi (1985),pp. 110-117. Weelkes based much of his text and music of his six five-voice madrigalson the Primo libro dellecclnzonetteCl re voci (Venice, 1589). (For a modern edition of Rossi's work, see H. Avenary, ed., Tel-Aviv,1976.) Cohen's findings suggest that Weelkes may have shown a more widespread nterest n the work of othercomposers, both native and continental, han s generally realised.5 Ccln she excuse my wrongs? (I, 5), labelled originally in Barley's publication as 'A Galliarde'. Forcommercial reasons, it would have been quite naturalfor Barley to have selected the more popular works of

Dowland for publication. Not surprisingly,among the other Dowland pieces included in Barley's book weresuch well-known works as Cofrom my window and Lczchrimcle6 Cf. nos 5, 8, 13, 20, 21 & 23 with the correspondingDowland airs: I 19, I 2, I 13, I 7, I 2, & I 8..

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As faras chromaticisms concerned,Dowlandseemsto havemadesomeimpressionn Weelkes'suseof thedevice.Twoof his moreseriousairsfrom heFirstBook,Burstforth,mytears(I, 8) andGo,crystal ears(I, 9) probablypavedthe way for Weelkes'use of expressivechromaticnotes nMytearsdo notavailme(no.23) from he 1597publication,ndO Care,thouwiltdespatchme fromthe 1600publication,7nda muclllater work, WhenDavid heard,which was probablywrittento com-memoratehe deathof PrinceHenry n 1612.But to returno the onlytrulychromatic umbern Weelkes' irstpublicationnd ts possiblecon-nectionwithAllye whomLoveorFortune ndotherpossiblemodels.

PerhapshefirstconnectionwithDowland'sAllye is in thesameuseof sixainverseform,eachlineof stanzabeinggivenin a regularmetricalpattern f ten syllables.BothDowlandandWeelkesdwellon thesimilarthemesof despair,hopelessness ndso forth.Thekey words hat inkthetwopoemsare"care", consume",hopes", sorrow"nd"sing".Musically, here s someresemblance etween he opening deasofthetwopieces(Exx. Ia, lb).4 L I 4 J I -All ye, whom Love or For - tunehath be - tray'd

9 , s8 1 .Ex. la: Dowland,All ye, whomLove or Fortune I, no. 14, 1597)

AfterTheEnglishLuteSongs, ed. EdmundH. Fellowes, rev. ThurstonDart,1stseries, i & ii, London,1965, p. 28, bb. 1-2After the openingbars, Weelkesbringshis music to rest on adominant alf-close n A instedof resumingn thesamekey as Dowlanddoes.Thenextline"locarehathnowcomsum'dmycarcasequite" howssome similarity n its theme to material rom the third text-line ofDowland'smusic,"Allye whosehope...".HereWeelkesdevelopshismo-7For furtherdetails, see Kenneth K. S. Teo, Chromaticism in Thomas Weelkes' 1600 collection:possiblemodels, Musicology Australia,xiii (1990), 2-14.

K.Teo:Dowland ndCeaseSorrowsNow 7

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4; s} j z 5c e a s e r o w s w c e a s e s o r - r o w s

1 8 s } I " J l oc e a s e r o w s w

- A ; l oc e a s e r o w s w

Ex. lb: Weelkes,Cease sorrows now (no. 6, 1597)After The EnglishMadrigalists,ed. EdmundH. Fellowes, rev. ThurstonDart,Vol. 9, London, 1965, p. 29, bb. 1-5

tive organically n Byrd'smanner, robably o emphasise he emotionalconnotation f the text. The sequential epetitionof each line, a stephigherin pitch every time, is exciting.The thirdline may have beenadoptedrom a melodicpoint n theluteaccompanimentn thefirstsec-tion of Dowland'swork (betweenthe first and second textlines),butWeelkesandsbrieflyon F,through perfectdacence.Thefourthine"fordolefuldeath..."againseemsto derivematerialrom heaccompaniment,thistimefrom hefourthine"Allye whom ighs...";hereWeelkesallowsthemusic oflow imitativelyn madrigaltyleandevenindulgesn a littlewordpaintingn his characteristicriplemeasure t thecue of "pleasure".Forthis fifth line, the music is basically n F anddoes not seem to bearanyaffinitywithDowland'swork.Probably e basesthispassageuponthe workof RobertParsons'Pandolpho,a pre-1570viol-accompaniedsong,asDavidBrownhaspointedout.8Wenowarriveattheextended hromatic assage nWeelkes'spiece,in which all threevoices participate.The main interesthinges on thesimilaruse of the chromatic ourthfigurein the secondhalf of bothWeelkes'and Dowland'scompositions,whichsuggeststhatDowland'ssong could have inspired he chromaticism f Weelkes'madrigal noteparticularlyhesimilaruseof theascendinghromaticourthigurewhichsuggestsan associationwith Dowland's ifth text line "Lendears andtears..."(Exx.2a,2b).

8 David Brown, op. cit., p. 66, note 1.

8 K. Teo:Dowland and Cease SorrowsNow

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K. Teo:Dowlandand Cease SorrowsNow 9

i ; 1 l - { f I r XLend ears and tears to+ J g J 1 $ z D I J x J

' 9 S 1 1 0 t J I 21H44Ex. 2a: Dowland,All ye, whom Love or FoItune(I, no. 14, 1597)After The English LuteSongs, ed. EdmundH. Fellowes, rev. ThurstonDart,

1stseries, i & ii, London, 1965, p. 29, bb. 1-3

i; 1 - S I J t J I J t J l . . l. .die, I'll sing my faint fare- well, I'll sing

die, I'll sing my faint fare- well+ 1 1 - l J # J I J w J 1 9

die, I'll sing my faint fare - wellEx. 2b: Weelkes, Cease sorrows now (no. 6, 1597)After TheEnglish Madrigalists,ed. EdmundH. Fellowes, rev.ThurstonDart,Vol. 9, London, 1965, p. 33, bb.9-15

Oneother nteresting ointis thatthe words n Weelkes's hromaticsectionread"I'll sing my aintfarewell".Couldit have anything o dowithanother f Dowland'sworks,his so-calledFarewell ancy?This fan-tasia for solo lute is found in the relatively arlymanuscriptourceDd5.78,probably ompiledaround1595 to 1600,togetherwithanother ololutepiece theForlornHopefancy.9Bothlutepiecescontainexamplesofthe chromaticcales,with the descending hromaticourthappearingntheForlornHope, andtheascendingourth n theFarewell.TheFarewellfancyalsobegins withanascending hromaticourth rom noteA, as inthe airAll ye, and altoughone cannotbe certain hatthis instrumental

9 See DianaPoulton,London, 1972, pp. 21s11.

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10 K. Teo:Dowland nd CeaseSorrowsNowworkwas already n circulation eforeWeelkes omposedCease sorrowsnow,the possibilities houldnevertheless e borne n mind.

In Cease sorrowsnow, Weelkesappearsnot only to have derivedmost of his ideas from Dowland,but also follows some of his harmonicorganisation nd tonal plan. It is perhapsno evidence hathe could havetakenan idea fromParsons'work or,at this point,Weelkesmay have ex-haustedmost of the thematic deas from All ye. This deep concern orselectingand ear-making f motivicfigures or imitationmay partlyex-plain the rather egmented and occasionally hortbreathed)haracter fthe piece. Thereare too manycadencesandthere s little of the flow andcontinuity f Dowland'spiece.Besides the chromatic ourth reatment,which obviouslymarks heclimax of Cease sorrowsnow, Weelkes' ntroduction f the chromaticnotes C# and F# "for doleful death", the single Bv just before thechromatic assage,and the prolonged imultaneousalse relationof C#Cat the end, affordsus glimpsesof an independentpiritat workand,moreimportantly,hows us thateven at this early stage,he is capableof suchpoignant ffects. Apart rom the chromatic ourthand expressiveuse ofchromatic otes,Weelkesmay also learnt he use of the "alternate"egreeinflections romAll ye, Burst orth andotherDowlandairs ike His goldenlocks(I, 18). In addition, he singleG-B progression mployed n In blackmourn (the second partof Myflocks feed not)l has an antecedent nDowland'sCome, heavy Sleep (I, 20), altough he device occurs at thedivisionof two major ections n Dowland'swork,andther s insufficientthematic fiTinityo suggest hat t definitelyderives romDowland.Cease sorrows now and All ye whom Love and Fortune are sig-nificant or being the firstEnglishcompositionsn print hatcontainsex-pressiveandextended hromaticwriting. ndeed, t may not be too muchto say that along with severalothervocal and instrumentalompositionsof Dowland, their passionateutterance epresenta new experience nEnglishvocal music ust before he turnof the century.

toThe tripartiteMy locks eednot sperhaps he notable of a numberof pieces otherthanCease orrowsnow, in the 1597 set that contain expressive chromaticism.Chromaticism s employed to telling effect in thisthree-artwork, particularly he chromaticnotes and the "alternate" egree inflections.StubliuMu.vicol