Annotation:Lachrymae

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LACHRYMAE. AKA and see "Flow My Tears," "Pavaen Lachrymae." English, Slow Air (cut time). AABBC. "Lachrimae pavane" [1], and the song set to it, "Flow My Tears," were composed by English composer John Dowland in the form of a dance called the pavan. It was one of the most popular of Elizabethan airs and was used by composers for songs, string compositions and lute airs; it appears, for example, in William Ballet's Lute Book of 1594 (although Dowland's tune itself is dated to 1596). The melody was also set by William Byrd for the virginal and appears in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Phillip Massinger mentions the tune in his The Maid of Honour (1621):

Or with the hilts, thunder about your ears
such music as will make your worships dance
to the doleful tune of Lachrymae.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Jacob van Eyck, Der Fluyten Lust-hof, vol. 1 (1644 and 1649).[1]

Recorded sources:




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  1. See Jacob van Eyck Quarterly no. 3 (July 2002) [2] for an analysis of the two settings of this air in van Eyck's collection.