"Dowland celebrates the story of one of the most important, most studied, and most performed composers to emerge from early modern England. More than just a biography, this monograph contextualizes the geographical, political, religious, cultural, and musical aspects of the life of John Dowland (1563-1626). In doing so, the book provides a window into life as a musician in the Elizabethan-Jacobean era, illuminating the importance of social, courtly, and academic connections. The narrative follows a master lutenist, renowned ...
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"Dowland celebrates the story of one of the most important, most studied, and most performed composers to emerge from early modern England. More than just a biography, this monograph contextualizes the geographical, political, religious, cultural, and musical aspects of the life of John Dowland (1563-1626). In doing so, the book provides a window into life as a musician in the Elizabethan-Jacobean era, illuminating the importance of social, courtly, and academic connections. The narrative follows a master lutenist, renowned for his virtuosic skills, on journeys to France, through the German and Italian lands, and into the Danish and English courts of Christian IV and James I, as he developed a musical style that was at once personal and cosmopolitan. Grapes also closely explores and contextualizes Dowland's musical compositions, which consisted of lute song-ayres, lute solos and duos, consort music, and psalm harmonizations. During his lifetime, the composer issued four songbooks, including the most successful secular music anthology of the era, one collection of consort music, and a theoretical translation, all printed in London. In these publications, Dowland utilized innovative print formats and set new standards for contemporary genres. Dowland's music also appears in many other prints and manuscripts in both England and on the continent, a testimony to his wide-spread appeal. As a complete record, Dowland captures the entrepreneurial resourcefulness of the foremost musician of his day, a performing composer who understood expected conventions, seized opportunities, and created a musical legacy that still stands firm 400 years after his death"--
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