Air by John Dowland

Legendary English composer, lutenist, and singer John Dowland (1563 - 1626) was widely known in his lifetime as a virtuoso lutenist, and today is widely “recognized as the greatest English composer of lute music and lute songs” (Holman, 2001). In addition to his prodigious accomplishments as a composer and lutenist, he is also one of the first composers to bring the song form of an air to a large audience (an air is a vocal or instrumental composition that has a lyrical quality, similar in content to an aria).

The Air that I will briefly analyze here has been arranged for guitar by Frederick Noad in his book Solo Guitar Playing - Book 1. It possesses a somber and introspective character, and consists of two contrasting parts, each of which is repeated. Perhaps because this piece was originally written for lute, the chord voicings utilized are more reminiscent of the lute than the modern guitar. In particular, this can be seen in the unusually widely spread chord voicings, with several chords spanning two to three octaves from the lowest to highest notes, in addition to intervals in excess of an octave between adjacent voices. I recently recorded this piece on my YouTube channel, Ben Guitar Music, which can be viewed here:

References:

Holman, Peter and Paul O’Dette. “Dowland, John.” Grove Music Online. Edited by Deane Root. Accessed April 30, 2023. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com. 

Noad, Frederick. Solo Guitar Playing - Book 1. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Music Sales America, 2008. https://www.halleonard.com/product/14023147/solo-guitar-playing-book-1-4th-edition.