John Dowland: Flow my tears (Lachrimae); Phoebe Jevtovic Rosquist, soprano & David Tayler, lute

Live, HD video from the “Saturday Night at the Movies“ concert presented by the Early Music ensemble Voices of Music, January, 2014, in San Francisco. Dowland’s song, also know as “Lachrimae“, which means “tears“ in Latin, was the most famous English song of the early 17th century and was well-known throughout Europe--many composers wrote variations on Dowland’s theme and harmonies. The first four notes of the melody form the bass part for Dowland’s song, “I saw my lady weep,“ both works were published in the Second book of Ayres (London, 1600). The poem is the subject of many articles. My own view is that “night’s black bird“ refers to the Greek goddess Nyx, the black-winged goddess of the night and one of the “protogenoi“ (first-born elemental gods). In one creation myth, Nyx was born from Chaos, and her symbols were the bird and shadows--the shadow theme appears at the end of the poem as well as in Dowland’s other works.