Annotated Bibliography

John Dowland and Elizabethan Melancholy
Author(s): Robin Headlam Wells
Source: Early Music, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Nov., 1985), pp. 514-528
Published by: Oxford University Press

The author thoroughly investigates the phenomenon known as Elizabethan Melancholy, especially as it relates to Dowland.  The discussion in this article is actually too in depth for my needs, in that I only wanted a little bit of information about subject.  After reading this article I am still not sure if can quite say what Elizabethan Melancholy is in a nutshell, since the elaborations and tangents are frequent and many.



 New Light on John Dowland's Songs of Darkness
Author(s): Anthony Rooley
Source: Early Music, Vol. 11, No. 1, Tenth Anniversary Issue (Jan., 1983), pp. 6-21 Published by: Oxford University Press

In this article the author is offering a new hypothesis on why Dowland has such melancholic, depressing music.  The most accepted interpretation, put forth by Dowland’s chief biographer Diana Poulton, shows Dowland to have much unhappiness and frustration in his personal and professional life.  Rooley offers a different idea, that Dowland was generally a happy man, and that his music is more an expression of an artistic persona that he carefully crafted throughout his lifetime.  I agree with poulton, and her original assessment of Dowland’s character.     




Dowland's Darkness
Author(s): Diana Poulton
Source: Early Music, Vol. 11, No. 4, Rameau Tercentenary Issue (Oct., 1983), pp. 517-519
Published by: Oxford University Press




This article is in response to Anthony Rooley’s “New Light on John Dowland’s Songs of Darkness” cited above.  Poulton finds Rooley’s ideas intriguing but completely refutes everything he said about Dowland’s character being cheerful and merry.  She offers strong evidence that one of the key sources Rooley cited in proving Dowland’s cheerfulness was in fact written by someone who never even met Dowland.  I just can’t believe someone who didn’t feel a little glum or depressed at times would be able to write music and poetry like Dowland did. 




POETS, MUSICIANS AND THE ETIOLOGY OF ENGLISH MELANCHOLY, 1586-1651
Author(s): JOHN EDWARDS
Source:  A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
Published by: GRADUATE PROGRAM IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO.   AUGUST 2009

The author gives his reasons on why he believes that the poets and musicians of the late Renaissance and early Baroque period anticipated the concept of melancholy being psychological in origin, rather than the common views of the time (as asserted in medical treatises), which held that it was due to physiological imbalances between the four humours.  These humours were blood (sanguine), phlegm (phlegmatic), yellow bile (choleric), and black bile (melancholy).  Whether the musicians, specifically John Dowland, really anticipated the psychological concept of melancholy doesn’t really matter to my purposes.  More important to me is that he is seen today as the official composer of English melancholy.  



John Dowland and the Art Song
Author(s):  Eddie T. Goins
Source:  A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy in music literature and performance, in the department of music in the graduate college of the state university of Iowa. 
Published: August, 1962

The author believes that not enough credit or attention is given in today’s recitals to the art songs of Dowland.  He makes a detailed analysis of the development of the genre (art song) up to the time of Dowland, and then takes us through detailed analyses of Dowland’s own contributions to the form.  I also feel like not enough classical singers know Dowland’s work, or are performing it in recitals these days.  That’s part of why I wanted to do my own project on Dowland.





Dowland's Lachrymae Tune
Author(s): Otto Heinrich Mies
Source: Musica Disciplina, Vol. 4, Fasc. 1 (1950), pp. 59-64
Published by: American Institute of Musicology Verlag Corpusmusicae, GmbH

This article gives a fairly detailed analysis about Dowland’s lachrymae tune which, according to the author, is found in its purest and clearest form in Flow My Tears.  The article talks about the history and form of the piece as well as recounting the many arrangements that have been made based on it (both by Dowland, and other composers of his day).      



 John Dowland His Life and Works
 Author:  Diana Poulton
 Published by: University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles  1972

This is a biography of John Dowland written by Diana Poulton, who is considered to be the expert on all things Dowland.  I did not read this book (only snippets), but have it listed here in case I may have to fact check anything else I have read.  The book covers everything that Poulton could gather on the life and works of Dowland and even includes some pictures and facsimiles of Dowland, his letters, original manuscripts, etc.



 Singling English Lute Songs
 Author:  David Van Ooijen
 Source:  http://home.planet.nl/~ooije006/david/writings/lutesong_f.html
 June 2008  

This online article is useful and credible because of the many quotes it pulls together from contemporaries of Dowland - including Dowland’s own words - on the subject of singing lute songs.  It features good, solid, practical advice.