Lute Songs of John Dowland: The Original First and Second Books Including Dowland's Original Lute Tablature (Dover Song Collections)

Teaching myself classical guitar during quarantine, this book presents a challenge that is sure to keep me busy, and is very rewarding when I can successfully play a new song. Dowland’s is some of the best music written for guitar.

What a bargain this volume is! French tablature for lute, standard notation for guitar, plus the voice part. All nice and neatly presented. You absolutely can't go wrong with this volume at $10. Thanks, Dover; what a great favor you've done for us lutenists!

This review applies to both the first volume (which contains Dowland's books 1 and 2) and the second volume (Dowland's books 3, 4 and some odds & ends).These book can be used in a couple different ways. It's written in a systems of 3 clefs - lute tablature, the same notes written in standard musical notation for classical guitar, and a vocal melody. The material can be performed on a 7-course lute, or a modern guitar, or a modern guitar tuned like a lute.Dowland's works require intermediate to advanced skill level to perform. To play them on classical guitar you'll need a couple years experience. To play them on lute you'll need to have mastered a good portion of Poulton's "Tutor for Renaissance Lute".These books are a great idea, unfortunately the lute tablature is simply too small to read at arms length (i.e. on a music stand). This is a pretty serious shortcoming. In order to read the tab I had to scan the pages and enlarge it.However, I still have to recommend it. Between the 2 volumes you get Dowland's complete works, along with modern transcriptions. At the price it's really hard to go wrong.

The book and pieces are ok, however I wish that the descriptions on the offer specify the tunning for most of the songs. Although it says that include the lute original, it does not clarifies that most of the pieces have a modified tunning when adapted to the guitar. May be for an advanced or academic individual this may be obvious, but, probably the individuals who purchase these books in Amazon probably are looking for clear, orginized and distinct descriptions instead of having to find out after the book is delivered. Clear descriptions requirement should apply to all the books and include expertise level, alternate tunnings, list of songs included, etc. The songs in this particular book are simple and at the beginner level, however most have an alternate tunning that some might not want to play for particular reasons.In general, at least this and the others books on these series are something different and that is the reason I will not return. However, as a general observation, I will say that the lack of especific, clear and detailed descriptions on the offer pages seems that are more of a marketing technique than of a consice effort. I wish Amazon review this and other aspects of their pages (such as the pathetic and obviously fake reviews some pages have) and make it more orginized and clear, transparent evaluations and descriptions. That definitelly will increase customer satisfaction, aid in the decisions and decrease returns.

excelent edition, beautiful music, a must in song repertory. Comes with lute tab and parts, the volume Two is great also. In love with this music.

It took me awhile to get used to the traditional lute tab notation as I am coming from a regular guitar background (read standard notation & "modern" tablature). This is a good book if you can find it. If you also like steel-string acoustic guitar playing, check out the recordings and transcriptions by John Renbourne. There is another book that may be hard to find but worth it called "Complete Anthology for Medieval and Renaissance Guitar" that has some great transcriptions using alternate tunings by Renbourne.

i'm using dowland on my senior recital for college, this is one of the better books.

After purchasing these books (1/2 & 3/4) I immediately got use of the convenience of its page lay-out. Playing both Lute and Guitar this book is easy to understand with the Guitar notations. My favorite thing about this book is that it's printed with a few extra pages to guarantee that a two-page song is always on two adjacent pages instead of back-to-back. The only thing I didn't like was in comparison to the Stainer & Bell edition. Having Voice on top, Grand Staff realization, and then Lute; the grand staff let's you see exactly where your lower courses are tuned to. Not that its hard to figure out with standard tunings but Dowland did use a few kinds of Lutes through-out the compositions in these books. I definately recommend them for anybody studying Guitar, Lute, or Voice.

Había estado buscando algo así por muchos años. Muchas de las canciones de Dowland requieren varias voces y/o varios instrumentos; de esta manera se pueden disfrutar para un instrumento melódico soprano (flauta, voz, violín) y guitarra (o laud).

楽譜として充分満足してます。

This is a great book and well arranged - Although I do think that by having both the lute tablature and standard notation as well as the vocal line means scores take up more space go over more pages. The advantage of this is that you can check Dowland's actual positions on the neck and this is usefulThis is a must for guitarists who want to play lute songs and lutenists who have not got the time to learn lute tablature. good accurate transcription.

Raccolta di pezzi favolosi. Consigliato a tutti gli amanti della musica e non solo del genere barocco.Trascrizioni per chitarra

Zu den Kompositionen: Im Notenschrank nehmen die beiden Hefte mit John Dowlands Lute Songs nur wenig Platz ein, und doch beinhalten sie einen der größten Schätze der englischen, ja europäischen Musik. In Dowlands Lautenliedern vereinigen sich Volkstümlichkeit und höchste Subtilität. Im Gegensatz zu den meisten seiner Stücke für Laute allein und dem Lautenpart der Lachrimae-Pavanen für Gamben-Consort ist die Liedbegleitung durchaus leicht zu bewältigen, wenn man sich mit der Lautenstimmung erst einmal vertraut gemacht hat. Die größten Herausforderungen für eine Aufführung dürften in der hohen Gesangslage, der oft synkopisierten Stimmführung und dem Zusamenwirken beider Musizierenden liegen, dazu kommen die englische Sprache und die Erfordernisse einer historisch korrekten Deklamation und Aufführungspraxis. Damit gehören die Lieder Dowlands letztlich doch zu den schwierigen Stücken.Zur Ausgabe: Eine vollständige Ausgabe mit den Texten, den wenigen Zugaben für Laute solo, die sich auch in den Originalausgaben finden und den vier historischen Frontispizen. Sehr lobenswert ist der Versuch, die Lautenlieder auch für Gitarristen zu erschließen, das Untereinander von Noten-Transcription und Original-Tabulatur ist ein gangbarer Weg, so dass sich Gitarristen einen ersten Eindruck verschaffen können. Wer sich den Liedern ernsthaft widmen will, kommt um Laute und Tabulatur nicht herum. Die Tabulatur ist ja deswegen so beliebt gewesen (und heute wieder ein Muss), weil sie höchst komplizierte musikalische Abläufe so wunderbar einfach darstellt, einst geschaffen für den musikalischen Laien.Bei der Gitarrenübertragung transponiert wurden für mich nicht ganz nachvollziehbar die Nummern 1/V, 2/I, 2/II, 2/XI, 3/I sowie "In darkness let me dwell", hier sollte man sich an die Tabulatur halten. Einige wenige Druckfehler in der Tabulatur sind zu verschmerzen , hier hilft der Blick auf die darüber angeordnete Transcription.Die beiden Bücher von David Nadal kann ich allen sehr empfehlen, die sich intensiver mit der ganz unvergleichlichen Schönheit der Musik im England der Tudorzeit beschäftigen wollen.