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 wellknown throughout Europemany 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 blackwinged goddess of the night and one of the protogenoi (firstborn elemental gods). In one creation myth, Nyx was born from Chaos, and her symbols were the bird and shadowsthe shadow theme appears at the end of the poem as well as in Dowland s other works. br, br,