[New Rendition] John Dowland: His golden locks (c.1590 / 1613) (Original Pronunciation)

Details

Description

John Dowland, while living abroad in Denmark, served two British monarchs: Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. Dowland's song "His Golden Locks" was initially published in 1597 (First Booke of Songes) and then reprinted 4 more times until his last edition in 1613. The collections contain original music for 4 singing parts (cantus, altus, tenor and bassus) plus a lute. The song was based on a poem by Dowland's contemporary George Peele who wrote a poetic homage to the elderly Elizabethan military officer Sir Henry Lee. Sir Henry was a fabled champion jouster in the early years of Queen Elizabeth's reign who pledged himself in 1569 to winning the annual competitions every year on the monarch's birthday until he became too old and decrepit. The song is a somewhat melancholic and existential reflection on the aging, once proud warrior conquered by the ravages of time (a theme often visited by many Elizabethan poets including Shakespeare). It was given a live performance, perhaps with the composer himself at the lute, during Henry Lee's 1590 retirement ceremony commemorating the many years of service as the Queen's Champion and the Master of the Armoury. The 1613 version of this song had a rewritten lute part and some reworked lyrics to suit a new monarch who was now a king. Note the line "Curs'd be the soul that think him any wrong." The words in the 1597 version (during the Elizabethan era) was "Curs'd be the soul that think HER any wrong."

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LYRICS:

His golden locks Time hath to silver turned.
O Time too swift! Oh swiftness never ceasing!
His youth 'gainst Time and Age hath ever spurned,
But spurned in vain; youth waneth by increasing.
Beauty, strength, youth are flowers but fading seen;
Duty, faith, love are roots and ever green.

His helmet now shall make a hive for bees,
And lover's sonnets turn to holy psalms.
A man-at-arms must now serve on his knees,
And feed on prayers which are Age's alms.
But though from Court to cottage he depart,
His Saint is sure of his unspotted heart.

And when he saddest sits in homely cell,
He'll teach his swains this carol for a song:
Blest be the hearts that wish my Sovereign well.
Curst be the soul that think him any wrong.
Goddess, allow this aged man his right
To be your beadsman now that was your knight.

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RECORDING:

I downloaded an original MIDI file compiled by David Fraser and uploaded to CPDL.org. I entered the lyrics for the song using the Vocaloid 4 program with the Avanna voice bank for the cantus and the Cyber Songman for the alto, tenor and bass. I based my simulation of Original Pronunciation using the recommendations of Professor David Crystal. I added a lute accompaniment using a MIDI created by Sarge Gerbode. In this latest rendition, I rebalanced the voices, created a more legato effect and corrected some of my earlier pronunciation errors. I also used a female voice in the cantus instead of a male alto and used a different lute accompaniment.

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ILLUSTRATIONS:

1. Printed score of "His Golden Locks" from the 1613 edition. Note that this is a performance edition for 4 vocalists and a lutenist. The singers were expected to read their respective parts from the printed score standing around a table. The lute tabulature is printed just below the cantus line on the left panel.
2. Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I around the time of Sir Henry Lee's pledge to win every jousting event on her birthday.
3. Portrait of Sir Henry Lee, Antonis Mor, 1568
4. Nicholas Lanier playing the lute, Anonymous English, c1613 (around the time of the final publication of the "First Booke")
5. Sir Henry Lee's armor
6. Concert with detail of young singers and an elderly man with a cello, Giovanni Domenico Lombardi, 1638
7. Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (a.k.a. the Rainbow Portrait) was painted around the time of Sir Henry Lee's retirement ceremony (1590) by the Flemish painter Marcus Gheeraerts. Queen stood at the pinnacle of popularity and power following England's victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588.