Date of Award
1-27-1962
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Music: General
First Advisor
Miss Kidd
Abstract
Even a brief glance at the context of John Dowland's life can be helpful in arranging insights into an introductory understanding of his life and music. Dr. Edmud Fellowes, one of the great scholars of this period of music history, said that the English have always appeared to prefer vocal music over instrumental music. And one of the eras when England "stood first in music", he said was during the Elizabethan days and up to the close of the Tudor period.
Before the great flourishing of the madrigals and lute songs in England there were English secular songs, but little is known about this national art. Along with it there began to develop an interest in the Italian madrigal. It is important to try to realize the tremendous influence Italian music obviously had over the great English composers of this period in order to appreciate those, such as William Byrd and John Dowland, who were more individualistic in their approach to composition.
Recommended Citation
Morrow, Anne LaVerne, "An introduction to John Dowland's lute songs" (1962). Honors Theses. 609.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/609