Elizabethan Music

John Dowland

Tudor England was a place of extremes, and music was no exception. Generally speaking, there were two major currents in music during the English Reformation, expressive of rather opposite emotional extremes.

The air was filled with madrigals, generally upbeat, major tonality songs with playful lyrics expressive of love, summer, and the joys of life. Titles such as John Farmer's "Fair Phyllis" and Thomas Greaves' "Come Away, Sweet Love" are good examples of this genre.

At the same time, melancholy was all the rage, especially through lutenists (lute-players) like John Dowland. His mournful dirges like "In Darkness Let Me Dwell" and "Flow, My Tears" were the original emo music, and hugely popular.