John Dowland – Four more lute pieces arranged for guitar by Brian Jeffery, as a digital download (pdf)

These four more pieces by John Dowland were originally composed for the lute, and have here been transcribed for the guitar by Brian Jeffery from the original tablature. The collection was previously published by Oxford University Press and has now been assigned to Tecla Editions.

Contents:

• Lachrimae Pavane
• Fantasia (this is the one which has at the end what we might call tremolo)
• Fortune my foe
• Galliard: Mignarda

The solemn Lachrimae Pavane is probably the most famous of all pieces ever written for the lute: it is an instrumental version of the song “Flow, my tears” from Dowland’s Second Book of Airs (1600). The Fantasia that follows is remarkable for its use, at the end, of what we call tremolo, and is probably the earliest known example of that technique. It is anonymous in the source, but seems more likely to be by Dowland than by any other lutenist of his day. Fortune my Foe, based on the popular tune of the same title, may have started life as an accompaniment to that tune, but Dowland’s setting came to be known as a solo piece. Mignarda is an instrumental setting of the song “Shall I strive” from Dowland’s Fourth Book of Airs (1612).

This collection is one of a series of seven titles of lute music arranged for guitar by Brian Jeffery.

See also Dowland: Four lute pieces arranged for guitar by Brian Jeffery and Dowland: English Lute Songs.

First published by Tecla in 1995.

Copyright 2008 by Tecla Editions. Errors and omissions excepted.