Dowland

Question 1

Dowland - Tonality

To what keys does Dowland briefly modulate, and where?

(Answer modally or tonally)

Answer 1

C major (C-Ionian) at the beginning of section B

D minor (D-Dorian in the middle of section B)

Question 1

Dowland - Forces

What forces are required to perform ‘Flow my Tears’

What optional instrument has been added to Edexcel’s recording?

Answer 1

Solo voice

Lute

A bass viol has been added to the Edexcel recording

Question 2

Dowland - Melody

What happens to the vocal range in each of the three sections?

Answer 2

The range is small, it gets bigger by one note with each section

Section A - minor seventh (d to c)

Section B - Octave (d to d)

Section C - Major ninth (d - e)

Question 3

Dowland - Harmony

‘Flow My Tears’ is full of many traditional melodic dissonances - correctly prepared and resolved.

How many types of melodic dissonance found in the song can you name?

Answer 3

• Suspension
• Passing note
• Accented passing note
• Anticipation
• Auxiliary
• Cambiata (lute only)

(N.B. no apoggiaturas)

Question 4

Dowland - Tempo

The modern editors gave a tempo marking for this piece. What was it? Why did they choose this marking?

Answer 4

Lento

The song is based on the traditional dance known as the pavan - which is slow and stately

Question 4

Dowland - Origins

This song is based on a slow and stately Italian dance - which dance?

Answer 4

Pavan

Question 5

Dowland - Texture

The texture for this song is mostly what?

Answer 5

Homophonic

(melody plus accompaniment)

Question 6

Dowland - Texture

In the middle section of the song, we could say that the texture becomes more what?

Answer 6

Polyphonic or contrapuntal

with some antiphonal exchanges between voice and lute.

Question 6

What are the missing words?

Dowland - Texture

In the imitative part of section B (bar 12) the ‘tenor’ part of the lute doubles the vocal part a sixth below.

This is an example of Txxxxxxxxx Txxxxxxxxxx

Answer 6

Textural thickening

Question 7

Dowland - Tonality

How would you best describe the overall tonality of ‘Flow my Tears’?

(what key or mode is it in?)

Answer 7

A-Aeolian

It’s modal, even though there are some features of the emerging tonal system.

Question 8

Dowland - Tonality and Harmony

Composed at the end of the Renaissance, just as the tonal system was beginning to the replace the modal system, ‘Flow My Tears’ has tonal and harmonic features typical of both systems.

Which tonal features found in the song are particularly typical of the emerging tonal system?

Answer 8

Tonal Features

• frequent perfect cadences
• predominance of what would later be called ‘primary triads’ (chords I, IV and V)
• Modulation to the ‘relative minor’ for the beginning of section B
• Dominant pedal (beginning of section C)

Question 10

Dowland - Word Setting

Happie, Happie, they that in hell

describe Dowland’s word painting for these words

Answer 10

• The first ‘Happie’ is marked by being the highest note in the piece.
• The descent from ‘happie’ to ‘hell’ is six notes, the longest descent in the song.

Question 11

Dowland - Tonality and Harmony

Composed at the end of the Renaissance, just as the tonal system was beginning to the replace the modal system, ‘Flow My Tears’ has tonal and harmonic features typical of both systems.

Which tonal features found in the song are particularly typical of the earlier modal system?

Answer 11

Modal features:

• Modulation only to other modes ‘permitted’ by the modal system (here C-Ionian and D-Dorian)
• Tièrces de Picardie
• Phrygian cadences
• False relations
• Musica Ficta

Question 11

What type of cadence is this?

Answer 11

Phrygian

It’s a special type of interrupted cadence - the bass falls by a semitone to the dominant

ivb - V

Question 12

Dowland - Rhythm and Meter

There is just one bar which changes meter (it’s not notated in the score but it has a different number of beats). What would the time signature for this bar be? Which section does this stray bar occur in?

Answer 12

3/2

section C (bar 19) - “dwell, learne to contemne light”

Question 13

Dowland - thinking structurally….

Dowland uses the same music for different sets of lyrics (different verses). What do we call this kind of relationship between words and music?

(most songs are like this - madrigals tend not to be)

Answer 13

Strophic

the music for section A is used for stanzas 1 and 2

the music for section B is used for stanzas 3 and 4

the music for section C is used for stanza 5 (repeated)

Question 14

Thinking about harmony and tonality, what can you say about this cadence?

Answer 14

Perfect cadence

Tièrce de Picadie

In the Renaissance (and the Baroque period also) when cadencing onto the tonic in a minor-sounding mode (Aeolian or Dorian) the third of the chord was always sharpened (the chord became ‘major’) - it was considered too dissonant to cadence onto a minor chord.

Question 16

Dowland - melody

Broadly speaking, describe the vocal melody in each of the three sections in terms of it’s general direction (rising, falling, arched etc)

Answer 16

section A - most phrases fall

section B - first few phrases fall, but in the second half the melody ascends, often by leap of a third

section C - begins with a rising and falling arch (“hark you shadows that in darkness dwell”) but after that the melodies fall again

Question 17

Dowland - Structure

What’s the best one-word answer to describe the structure of this song?

(Clue: it’s not rondo form or sonata form)

Answer 17

Tripartite

(ABC with each section repeated)

it’s not ternary (that’s ABA)

Question 19

Dowland - genre

What type of musical work is ‘Flow my Tears’

(what genre?)

Answer 19

Lute Song

Question 21

Dowland - melody

What is the “Lachrymae motif”

Answer 21

A four note descending scale-fragment. With it’s characteristic rhythm it was used by Dowland to convery the idea of tears flowing. It became a cliché in Dowland’s songs - any mention of sadness or grief seemed to be set to this motif…

Question 22

Dowland - Word Setting

How would you describe the sowr setting in terms of syllabic/melismatic?

Answer 22

Almost entirely syllabic

(except for occasional paired semiquaver melismas and cadential ornamentation)

Question 23

Dowland - Rhythm

(longer answer - 4 main points)

what can you say about the rhythm of the vocal line?

Answer 23

• very varied, the only bars which are the same are the last two bars of sections A and C
• longer note lengths are used to stress particular words (e,g, ‘FLow’, ‘fall’).
• syncopation used to stress csertain words (e.g. ‘fall’, infamy’)
• only in section B do the voice and lute work together rhythmically

Question 24

Dowland - Harmony

The chords in flow my tears are mainly in which inversions?

(this is typical of English late-Renaissance music)

Answer 24

Root position and first inversion

Question 25

Dowland - Conjunct/disjunct

broadly speaking, describe the melodies in the three sections in terms of ‘conjunct’ or ‘disjunct’

Answer 25

section A - mostly conjunct (except for “night’s black bird it’s..”)

section B - more disjunct

section C - mostly conjunct again (except fo “happie, happie”)

Question 26

Dowland - Word Setting

And tears, and sighs, and groans

Describe Dowland’s word painting here

Answer 26

Dowland puts a quaver rest before each ‘and’ - this is like a sigh, a sob, or an intake of breath

(it was a common trick borrowed from earlier Italian madrigals)

Question 27

Dowland - Rhythm and Meter

Mostly, this song stays in which meter (time signature)?

Answer 27

4/4

simple quadruple