John Dowland: "If My Complaints" (a galliard)

For a snowy November day, music of the Elizabethan composer John Dowland (1563-1626) seems appropriate.

"If My Complaints" is a song which was set to the rhythm of a galliard. Dowland also wrote a lute solo using this music, "Captain Piper's Galliard", dedicated to the English pirate Digory Piper. As to whether the song or the lute solo came first, it's difficult to prove. The sung version was published in 1597, and the lute solo has been dated to 1590, but that doesn't confirm which came first by any means.




This is more-or-less Segovia's mid-1950s arrangement, as recorded on "Segovia and the Guitar". He re-recorded it 10 years later on "Castles of Spain" in a version which is more faithful to the original lute score.

TECH DATA: recorded on my 2011 Robert England guitar. Robert is a fine luthier in Toronto, Ontario, and I can recommend his guitars without hesitation. La Bella 2001 medium-hard strings. Recording on a Flip UltraHD camcorder, with no additional soundfile processing.

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[nanweber]

Snow on.

[rsengland]

Nicely played, David. Thanks for posting this.

Robert

[jbclassicaldreams]

Very nice playing, David!

James

[spronev]

Pleasure to listen to, David!

Svilen