Preface to Dowland’s First Book of Airs.
John Dowland stands out as a remarkable personality even in an age which produced more men of mark than any other in English History. He was the greatest of all the English lutenists; he enjoyed a European reputation as a composer, singer and virtuoso; and his praises were sung by the famous poets of his time. As evidence of the popularity of his music it may be stated that his "First Book of Airs," published in 1597, ran through as many as five editions in sixteen years, a most notable experience, to which no other song-book of the time offers any parallel. It is not a little strange that Dowland should have come to be so completely forgotten by succeeding generations of English people, for it is not too much to say that his name is almost unknown, even in musical circles, to-day. Yet he was not only one of the greatest song-writers that this country has ever produced, but he is to be placed unhesitatingly among the world's greatest song-writers of all time.
Our knowledge of Dowland's personal history is mainly due to the researches of Mr. Barclay Squire, supplemented by those of Dr. W. H. Grattan-Flood. He came of Irish stock. His father was living at one time at Dalkey, County Dublin, and it is not improbable that this was the composer's birth-place, although no positive evidence can be cited to conform the conjecture. The surname in this particular form is not common but it is to be met with in the neighbourhood of Dublin at that time. Thus, Richard Dowland was sexton of Christ Church Cathedral, and may have been a brother of John. Matthew Dowland who was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster, in 1628, may either have been a brother or a son of the composer. The more common form of the name in Ireland is Dolan; other variants are Doland and Douland.
John Dowland was born at Christmas-tide 1562. His father died in 1577 when the boy was scarcely fifteen years old. In the following year he made his way to England. He had influential friends and in 1580, at the age of seventeen, he went to Paris, holding some minor appointment in the train of Sir Henry Cobham. During the following three years he travelled, as he himself describes it, through "the chiefest parts of France, a nation furnisht with great variety of Musicke." His marriage must have taken place shortly after his return to England, for bis son Robert was born in 1586 when he was not more than 23 years of age. This period was largely devoted to serious musical study, he having aimed at the musical profession from childhood. He took the Mus. Bac. degree at Oxford in 1588 and was a contributor to East's "Whole book of Psalms" 1592. Some of his songs were written about this time, for he states that the greater part of his first Set were, at the time of publication, "ripe inough by their age," and there can be little doubt that it was Dowland's setting of Peele's words which Sir Henry Lea sang at Westminster in 1590 on the occasion of his retirement from the position of Champion to the Queen. It was at this period too that Dowland applied unsuccessfully for an appointment to the Court of Queen Elizabeth and his failure may possibly be ascribed to his having become a convert to Roman Catholicism during his stay in Paris. He then travelled to Germany, where he spent some months and was well received wherever he went, and in 1594 "past over the Alpes into Italy," where he was received with enthusiasm in Venice, Padua, Genoa, Ferrara, Florence, and elsewhere. He also became the friend and pupil of the famous Italian madrigalist Luca Marenzio.
It is somewhat strange in this connexion that Dowland did not follow Marenzio in the direction of madrigal-composition, but it was consistent with his noieworthy independence of character that he should have struck out an entirely original line and given to the world a new Art-form, namely, the Lutenists' "Air"—or "Ayre," as it was very generally spelt. This "First Book of Airs," as already mentioned, was published in 1;97, at a time when he seems to have been in residence at Trinity College, Dublin, as a graduate. In the following year he left England again to take up an appoin ment at Elsinore as lutenist to Christian IV. King of Denmark: and, except for one brief visit to England in 1601, he remained abroad until 1609. In the meanwhile his second and third Books were published, in 1600 and 1603 respectively. On his final return to England he became lutenist to Lord Audley of Walden at Audley End, and in his latter years he was made one of the six lutenists to King Charles I. His death took place on 21st January, 1625—6, but the place of his death is uncertain and that of his burial remains unknown.
A fourth volume of Airs was published by Dowland in 1612 under the title of "A Pilgrim's Solace" In the preface to this work he indulged in complaints of the conduct and attitude of the other lutenists of his time; and it would seem that he had the bitter experience of finding himself neglected and forgotten in his own country after having been the darling of all Europe and having gained triumph upon triumph, as he travelled throughout France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark and elsewhere, singing his superb songs to his own matchless accompaniment on the lute. Furthermore, he seems, like many another artist, to have spent his earnings rapidly and with a light heart without considering the future, so that poverty and disappointment no doubt undermined his health and hastened his death.
Dowland's four books of Airs contain in all 84 songs, and four more were included in the collection made by his son Robert, published in 1610 under the title of "A musical Banquet." None of these books has ever been reprinted in complete form with the exception of the first which was issued to members of the Musical Antiquarian Society, and has been long out of print. The lute accompaniment was not reprinted in that edition. It may be hoped that this new Edition, which presents these compositions in the form of solo-song, the form in which the composer himself would have sung them, and which without doubt took precedence in his mind over the alternative version designed for four voices, will lead to something like the same popularity for the songs as that which they enjoyed in Dowland's day.
