Some composers do not get enough air time. They write beautiful music and are forgotten by the masses. I know my readers crave beauty and a sentiment they can relate to. Here is a sample of the lyrics alone of a song by Dowland entitled, "Can She Excuse My Wrongs?" I encourage everyone to check out this composer and lend him your ear.
"Can she excuse my wrongs with Virtue's cloak?
Shall I call her good when she proves unkind?
Are those clear fires which vanish into smoke?
Must I praise the leaves where no fruit I find?
No no: where shadows do for bodies stand,
Thou may'st be abus'd if thy sight be dim.
Cold love is like to words written on sand,
Or two bubbles which on the water swim.
Wilt thou be thus abused still,
Seeing that she will right thee never?
If thou canst not o'ercome her will
Thy love will be thus fruitless ever.
Was I so base, that I might not aspire
Unto those high joys which she holds from me?
As they are high , so high is my desire:
If she this deny, what can granted be?
If she will yeld to that which reason is,
It is Reason's will that Love should be just.
Dear make me happy still by granting this,
Or cut off delays if that die I must.
Better a thousand times to die,
Than for to live thus still tormented:
Dear, but remember it was I
Who for thy sake did die contented"
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” -II Corinthians 12:9
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1 comment:
Looks like someone broke into my Dowland stash. Seriously, I couldn't agree with you more Joe, Dowland needs more airtime. In addition to writing songs such as the one you quoted (melancholy was his bread and butter), he also wrote very happy and cheerful songs about love and even wrote a few psalms. The greatness of John Dowland is that he is able to express in words what you are feeling while downtrodden. He turns the feelings of sadness that lodge within your bosom and ache more every time you recall the source of your sorrow, and turns the indescribable feelings and emotion into a beautiful picture painted with words. But Dowland is more then a poet, he was a great musician as well. He took his words and set them to (in my opinion) the best music for solo voice to sing. The music is a nature extension of the text. While singing Dowland the words just flow and it fits very naturally in the voice. But what I love most about his music is that the accompaniment is very light and simple and yet heavy and complex when the need arises. By doing this the songs are more expressive as it requires more from the performers. Dowland did not have a backbeat, he did not have backup sings, he did not have much of what modern songwriters have today. All he used was his lute and his voice and was able to convey more emotion then Nickleback could ever wish to exude. It would be nice if people didn’t write Dowland off right away because he is from the 1600s. If they listened to him they would find that his words are just as meaningful today as they were nearly four hundred years ago.
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