Dowland, Robert (EN)

Dowland, Doland, Doulande, Dulandt Robert, *ca. 1591 London, †28 November 1641 Holborn (London), son of John Dowland, English lutenist, editor, and composer. During his father’s stay in Denmark (1598–1606), he was raised and educated by Thomas Monson, an eminent courtier of the queen and music lover, to whom he dedicated his first publication, Varietie of Lute-Lessons. In 1613, he played the lute with his father during the performance of Chapman’s masque (Masque of the Inner Temple and Lincoln’s Inn) at Whitehall during the wedding celebrations of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick, Elector Palatine. In 1623, he stayed with a troupe of English actors at the court of the Duke of Wolgast in Western Pomerania. In 1626, Robert Dowland is referred to as a bachelor in his marriage certificate. In the same year, he took over his father’s position as lutenist at the court of Charles I in London, which he held until his death.

He published the collections Varietie of Lute-Lessons (…) fantasies, pavins, galliards, almaines, corantes, and volts: selected out of the best approved authors… (London 1610) and A Musicall Banquet, furnished with varietie of delicious ayres… (London 1610).

The music anthologies compiled and published by Robert Dowland contain works by various composers; the collection Varietie of Lute-Lessons includes works for solo lute, seven fantasias, pavanes, galliards, currents, volts, and almands (including four from Queenes Masques) by English composers (including two dances–a pavan and a galliard, possibly by Robert Dowland himself), French, Italian, German, and Dutch composers; there is also a fantasia by Jakub Polak and a fantasia by Diomedes Caton. Before the musical notation, Robert Dowland included his own or his father’s translation of J.-B. Besard’s treatise on the lute and lute playing, as well as John Dowland’s observations on the lute, Other Necessary Observations (1610). The second anthology, A Musicall Banquet, contains 10 English songs, 3 Spanish songs, 4 Italian songs, 3 airs de cour, and 1 galliard for solo lute. The songs are mainly for soprano and bass (in 9 songs, the lack of text under the bass voice indicates that it is only for the bass instrument) with lute accompaniment. In addition to anonymous compositions, the collection includes works by A. Holborn, Martin, R. Hales, D. Batchelar, G. Tessier, D.M. Megli, J. Dowland, and Caccini. A Musicall Banquet is the first English publication of Italian monodies in which the basso continuo part is fully written out for the lute. Both anthologies were published with great care, and the selection (in which John Dowland may have been involved) demonstrates a good understanding of the European repertoire of the time.

Literature: J. Myers Caccini-Dowland: Monody Realized, “Journal of the Lute Society of America” III, 1970; J. Poulton John Dowland, London 1972, 2nd revised ed. 1982; R.J. Nolde English Renaissance lute practice as reflected in Robert Dowland’s Varietie of Lute-Lessons, Master’s thesis, Rice University, 1984; P. Poźniak Pieśni na głos solo i lutnię z XVI i początku XVII wieku jako źródło monodii barokowej, “Muzyka” XXIX, 1984 no. 4, Italian ed. titled I canti per voce sola e liuto nel XVI e XVII secolo come uno dei modi di genesi della monodia barocca, in: Sodalium voces, ed. L. Callegari, «Miscellanee Saggi Convegni» XXIV, Bologna 1984; L. Hulse Hardwick MS 29: A New Source for Jacobean Lutenists, “The Lute” XXVI, 1986; T. Carter Caccini’s „Amarilli, mia bella”. Some Questions (and a Few Answers), “Journal of the Royal Musical Association” CXIII, 1988; M. Shepherd A Strange Varietie of Concordance, “The Lute” XXIX, 1989; M. Spring Solo Music for Tablature Instruments, in: The Blackwell History of Music in Britain, vol. 3, The Seventeenth Century, ed. I. Spink, Cambridge 1992.