The Second Booke of Songes or Ayres
Encyclopedia
The Second Booke of Songes or Ayres is a book of lute song
s composed by Renaissance
composer John Dowland
. It was originally published in the year 1600 with the titleThe Second Booke of Songes or Ayres, of 2.4. and5. parts: With Tableture
for the Lute
or Orpherian, with the Violl de Gamba.
Lute song
The lute song was a generic form of music in the late Renaissance and very early Baroque eras, generally consisting of a singer accompanying himself on a lute, though lute songs may often have been performed by a singer and a separate lutenist...
s composed by Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
composer John Dowland
John Dowland
John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
. It was originally published in the year 1600 with the titleThe Second Booke of Songes or Ayres, of 2.4. and5. parts: With Tableture
Tablature
Tablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches....
for the Lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
or Orpherian, with the Violl de Gamba.
Song Titles
- I saw my Lady weepeI saw my Lady weepe"I Saw My Lady Weepe" is a lute song from the Second Booke of Songes or Ayres by Renaissance lutenist and composer John Dowland. It is the first song in the Second Booke and is dedicated to Anthony Holborne...
- Flow my tearsFlow my tearsFlow my Tears is a lute song by the accomplished lutenist and composer John Dowland.Originally composed as an instrumental under the name Lachrimae pavane in 1596, it is Dowland's most famous ayre, and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his...
- Sorrow Stay
- Die not before the day
- Mourn, day is with darkness fled
- Time's eldest son, Old Age
- Then sit thee down
- When others sing Venite
- Praise blindness eyes
- O sweet woods
- If floods of tears
- Fine knacks for ladies
- Now cease my wand'ring eyes
- Come ye heavy states of night
- White as lilies was her face
- Woeful heart
- A Shepherd in a shade
- Faction that ever dwells
- Shall I sue
- Toss not my soul
- Clear or cloudy
- Humour say what mak'st thou here (a Dialogue)