John Dowland – Flow My Tears (Lachrimae) - Song | Simon Radcliffe - Countertenor - 2026 - 4K
🎵 💧 We present a new release in the Shakespeare Network series Shakespeare and the Elizabethan–Jacobean Musical Landscape: John Dowland’s Flow My Tears (Lachrimae), in an original multimedia production.
John Dowland
Born c. 1563; buried 20 February 1626
Countertenor: Simon Radcliffe
Collegium Invisibile Ensemble
Music Director: Maximianno Cobra
Published as the second song in Dowland’s Second Booke of Songs or Ayres in 1600, Flow My Tears bears the Italian title Lacrime — “tears” — in the original musical edition. For performers of Dowland’s time, this printed edition served the practical function of a musical score, combining vocal notation and words with lute tablature and additional parts.
The instrumental Lachrimae pavan preceded the song. Dowland later joined its music to the words of Flow My Tears, creating an exceptional union of melody, poetic rhythm, verbal stress and musical expression. In 1604, the material returned as Lachrimae Antiquae, opening the seven “passionate pavans” of Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares.
THE ART OF MELANCHOLY — SEPTEM LACHRIMAE AND THE “ELIZABETHAN SORROWS”
This presentation explores the wider world of late Elizabethan and early Jacobean melancholy. More than personal sadness, melancholy could become an intellectual disposition, a poetic voice, a courtly posture and a theatrical mode of inward expression.
The analytical cards follow the song from its opening four-note descent — A–G–F–E — to its complete poetic and musical architecture: the union of music and words; the lyrics, prosody and textual variants; the falling-tear motif and its modal–tonal effect; the A-centred field and the Phrygian pull towards E; the pavan structure A–A | B–B | C–C; and the progression from tears and darkness to weary time, fallen fortune and shadows.
DOWLAND AND SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare (born April 1564; died 23 April 1616) and John Dowland lived almost exactly in parallel within late Elizabethan and early Jacobean culture. No surviving document proves that they met or collaborated, yet their historical and artistic proximity is unmistakable: London, court life, print, poetry, theatre and music formed a shared field around them.
Richard Barnfield (1574–1620) praised Dowland in “If music and sweet poetry agree”, reprinted in 1599 in The Passionate Pilgrim, a miscellany issued under Shakespeare’s name. Dowland gave musical form to inward lament; Shakespeare transformed comparable states into speech and dramatic action.
SHADOWS AND SORROWS
Although Flow My Tears was not composed as incidental music for Hamlet, it acquired a particular dramaturgical significance in Maximianno Cobra’s work. For the production of Hamlet that he directed in France in the early 2020s, he created variations on and an arrangement of Dowland’s song.
Since that production, whenever Maximianno Cobra conducts or plays Lachrimae, the first image to emerge in his mind is the tormented existential silhouette of the Prince of Denmark. The final card leads from Hamlet’s inward torment to the mirror scene in Richard II, where visible sorrow becomes only the shadow of the grief that “lies all within”.
🎼 This original Shakespeare Network multimedia presentation combines an original performance and recording with editorial cards, musical analysis, historical context and educational resources.
Subtitles — YouTube Translator:
EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, EL, PT, HE, JA, ZH, HI
🎓 Explore this video as part of the Shakespeare Network Educational Programme.
Our non-profit initiative promotes the study and performance of Shakespeare’s works through open-access resources.
Discover the full Academic Kit accompanying this video — including texts, annotated scripts, reading lists and teaching notes — entirely free of charge on our official website:
🌐 Full Academic Kit → https://www.shakespearenetwork.net/academic-kit
📚 This resource supports teachers, students, and theatre professionals interested in Renaissance literature, dramaturgy, and historical performance practice.
🗂 Related materials: - Free online courses and webinars - Research articles and curated editions - Live discussions and community projects
© Shakespeare Network, registered non-profit educational organisation.
_______________________________
Screen Adaptation - Co-Production : MISANTHROPOS – Official Website - [ LINK ]
Adapted by Maximianno Cobra, from Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens", the film exposes the timeless challenge of social hypocrisy, disillusion and annihilation against the poetics of friendship, love, and beauty.
_______________________________
Support Us - Donate Now !
Why Donate?
Donations to Shakespeare Network help sustain free knowledge and educational programs on Shakespeare Network and our ecosystem of Shakespeare Network projects. Your contributions ensure these resources remain accessible and valuable for all. Thank you.
Contact us for further info.
John Dowland
Born c. 1563; buried 20 February 1626
Countertenor: Simon Radcliffe
Collegium Invisibile Ensemble
Music Director: Maximianno Cobra
Published as the second song in Dowland’s Second Booke of Songs or Ayres in 1600, Flow My Tears bears the Italian title Lacrime — “tears” — in the original musical edition. For performers of Dowland’s time, this printed edition served the practical function of a musical score, combining vocal notation and words with lute tablature and additional parts.
The instrumental Lachrimae pavan preceded the song. Dowland later joined its music to the words of Flow My Tears, creating an exceptional union of melody, poetic rhythm, verbal stress and musical expression. In 1604, the material returned as Lachrimae Antiquae, opening the seven “passionate pavans” of Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares.
THE ART OF MELANCHOLY — SEPTEM LACHRIMAE AND THE “ELIZABETHAN SORROWS”
This presentation explores the wider world of late Elizabethan and early Jacobean melancholy. More than personal sadness, melancholy could become an intellectual disposition, a poetic voice, a courtly posture and a theatrical mode of inward expression.
The analytical cards follow the song from its opening four-note descent — A–G–F–E — to its complete poetic and musical architecture: the union of music and words; the lyrics, prosody and textual variants; the falling-tear motif and its modal–tonal effect; the A-centred field and the Phrygian pull towards E; the pavan structure A–A | B–B | C–C; and the progression from tears and darkness to weary time, fallen fortune and shadows.
DOWLAND AND SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare (born April 1564; died 23 April 1616) and John Dowland lived almost exactly in parallel within late Elizabethan and early Jacobean culture. No surviving document proves that they met or collaborated, yet their historical and artistic proximity is unmistakable: London, court life, print, poetry, theatre and music formed a shared field around them.
Richard Barnfield (1574–1620) praised Dowland in “If music and sweet poetry agree”, reprinted in 1599 in The Passionate Pilgrim, a miscellany issued under Shakespeare’s name. Dowland gave musical form to inward lament; Shakespeare transformed comparable states into speech and dramatic action.
SHADOWS AND SORROWS
Although Flow My Tears was not composed as incidental music for Hamlet, it acquired a particular dramaturgical significance in Maximianno Cobra’s work. For the production of Hamlet that he directed in France in the early 2020s, he created variations on and an arrangement of Dowland’s song.
Since that production, whenever Maximianno Cobra conducts or plays Lachrimae, the first image to emerge in his mind is the tormented existential silhouette of the Prince of Denmark. The final card leads from Hamlet’s inward torment to the mirror scene in Richard II, where visible sorrow becomes only the shadow of the grief that “lies all within”.
🎼 This original Shakespeare Network multimedia presentation combines an original performance and recording with editorial cards, musical analysis, historical context and educational resources.
Subtitles — YouTube Translator:
EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, EL, PT, HE, JA, ZH, HI
🎓 Explore this video as part of the Shakespeare Network Educational Programme.
Our non-profit initiative promotes the study and performance of Shakespeare’s works through open-access resources.
Discover the full Academic Kit accompanying this video — including texts, annotated scripts, reading lists and teaching notes — entirely free of charge on our official website:
🌐 Full Academic Kit → https://www.shakespearenetwork.net/academic-kit
📚 This resource supports teachers, students, and theatre professionals interested in Renaissance literature, dramaturgy, and historical performance practice.
🗂 Related materials: - Free online courses and webinars - Research articles and curated editions - Live discussions and community projects
© Shakespeare Network, registered non-profit educational organisation.
_______________________________
Screen Adaptation - Co-Production : MISANTHROPOS – Official Website - [ LINK ]
Adapted by Maximianno Cobra, from Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens", the film exposes the timeless challenge of social hypocrisy, disillusion and annihilation against the poetics of friendship, love, and beauty.
_______________________________
Support Us - Donate Now !
Shakespeare Network - Educational Programme
Why Donate?
Donations to Shakespeare Network help sustain free knowledge and educational programs on Shakespeare Network and our ecosystem of Shakespeare Network projects. Your contributions ensure these resources remain accessible and valuable for all. Thank you.
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