"Flow, my tears" (originally en-emodeng, Flow my teares fall from your springs, italic=no) is a

lute song The term lute song is given to a music style from the late 16th century to early 17th century, late Renaissance to early Baroque, that was predominantly in England and France. Lute songs were generally in strophic form or verse repeating with a h ...

(specifically, an "

ayre Ayre ( ; gv, Inver Ayre) is one of the six sheadings of the Isle of Man. It is located in the north of the island (part of the traditional ''North Side'' division) and consists of the three historic parishes of Andreas, Bride and (Kirk Chris ...

") by the accomplished lutenist and composer

John Dowland John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", "Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", ...

(1563–1626). Originally composed as an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

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 name "Jo: dolandi de Lachrimae".

Details

Like others of Dowland's lute songs, the piece's musical form and style are based on a dance, in this case the pavan. It was first published in '' The Second Booke of Songs or Ayres of 2, 4 and 5 parts'' (London, 1600). The song begins with a falling tear motif, starting on an A and descending to an E by step on the text "Flow, my tears". This may have been borrowed from an

Orlande de Lassus Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Pale ...

motet or

Luca Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the fo ...

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...

(this type of motif was common in Elizabethan music to signify grief), in addition to other borrowings in the piece. Anthony Boden calls the song "probably the most widely known English song of the early 17th century."

Variants

There have been many instrumental versions of this song, most entitled "Lachrimae" (or "Lachrymae", literally "tears"). In this case the instrumental version was written first, as "Lachrimae pavane" in 1596, and

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

were later added. It is believed that the text was written specifically for the music, and may have been written by Dowland himself. The English musicologist Peter Holman claims that the first pavan of "Lachrimae" (called "Lachrimae Antiquae", or the "Old Tears") is "perhaps the single most popular and widely distributed instrumental piece of the period". According to Holman, it exists in around 100 manuscripts and printings across Europe including England, Scotland, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Italy, in different arrangements for ensemble and solo. The "Lachrimae" tend to be much more abstract than later music (such as Bach and Chopin) and there is no "definitive" version of the piece. Dowland and his contemporaries supposedly played their own versions in a semi-improvised fashion, like jazz musicians today. Holman argues that the popularity of "Lachrimae" came from its rich melodic and motivic nature. Other English composers in the period generally gave only one or two ideas per strain and padded them out with dull, diffusive

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

writing. In contrast, Dowland's "Lachrimae" provide a variety of strikingly melodic ideas and furthermore they are tightly and tactfully interconnected. Instrumental versions by Dowland include "Lachrimae" for lute, "

Galliard The ''galliard'' (; french: gaillarde; it, gagliarda) was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Dance f ...

to Lachrimae" for lute and "Lachrimae antiquae" (1604) for

consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

. Dowland also published '' Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares'' (London, 1604), a collection of consort music which included a cycle of seven "Lachrimae" pavans based on the falling tear motif.

Thomas Morley Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the Engl ...

set the "Lachrimae Pauin" for the six instruments of a

broken consort In English early Baroque music, a broken consort is an ensemble featuring instruments from more than one family, for example a group featuring both string and wind instruments. A consort consisting entirely of instruments of the same family, on th ...

in his ''First Booke of Consort Lessons'' (London, 1599). Other composers have written pieces based on the work, including

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( ; April or May, 1562 – 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard compo ...

Thomas Tomkins Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mus ...

, and

Tobias Hume Tobias Hume (possibly 1579 – 16 April 1645) was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier. Little is known of his life. Some have suggested that he was born in 1579 because he was admitted to the London Charterhouse in 1629, a prerequisit ...

's ''What Greater Griefe'', while John Danyel's ''Eyes, look no more'' pays clear homage to the piece, as does John Bennet's " Weep, o mine eyes". In the 20th century, American composer and conductor Victoria Bond wrote ''Old New Borrowed Blues (Variations on Flow my Tears)''.

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

quotes the incipit of "Flow, my tears" in his Lachrymae for viola, a set of variations on Dowland's ayre "If my complaints could passions move". In 2006, the British

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

group

Banco de Gaia Banco de Gaia is an English electronic music project, formed in 1989 by Toby Marks (born 1964, South London, England). The music of Banco de Gaia is mostly categorized as ambient dub and downtempo. Marks works to cross genres, often using Ar ...

produced a vocoded version called "Flow my Dreams, the Android Wept".Banco de Gaia – Farewell Ferengistan CD
– review on swapacd.com

Lyrics

In other media

Lines 8–10 are quoted in the 1974 Philip K. Dick novel ''

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said ''Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said'' is a 1974 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The novel is set in a futuristic dystopia where the United States has become a police state in the aftermath of a Second American Civil Wa ...

'', the title of which is also an allusion to the song.

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * Dowland, John. ''Second Booke of Songs or Ayres'' (1600) Facsimile edition of the original manuscript M2DOW * * * * *

External links

"Flow, my tears" by John Dowland
video of a performance by Valeria Mignaco, soprano, and Alfonso Marin, lute
Sheet music for "Flow, my tears"

"Flow, my tears"
sung by countertenor Andreas Scholl * {{IMSLP, work=Flow My Tears (Dowland, John), cname="Flow, my tears" Compositions by John Dowland Lute songs 1600 works The Second Book of Songs