- Date: before 1626
- Composer: John Dowland
- Period: Renaissance (1450-1599)
Review
Dowland arranged a number of popular tunes of his time for lute solo. (In the case of Orlando Sleepeth he may have been the composer.) This tune itself has an interesting history, and is entitled "Rowland" or some variant thereof in both continental and British sources. Among these is a setting by William Byrd (1543 - 1623) in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. From this setting, scholars have deduced that the melody is derived from comic jigs related to clown-like characters named Rowland and Sexton.British scholar Charles Read Baskervill contends that the tune became known as Lord Willoughby's Tune or Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home [My Lord Willobe's Wellcome Home] after Lord Willoughby de Eresby (Peregrine Bertie) returned to England in 1589, having commanded the English army during campaigns in the Netherlands.
The tune is amusing, beginning with an upward leap of a fourth followed by a stepwise descent to the starting pitch. This, however, is not allowed to rest and is followed by another rise then a sudden downward leap of a octave, leading to an approach from below to the starting pitch.
Dowland made two settings of My Lord Willobe's Wellcome Home. The first is a simple, harmonized arrangement without ornamentation or elaboration, preserving the ABB' form of the tune. The second is more elaborate and sets the entire song structure twice, featuring altered divisions of the melody and other variations the second time through, while maintaining the original bass line. The elaboration is particularly developed in the second rendering of the B' section, and the texture is more polyphonic.
There exists another manuscript version of Lord Willobe's Wellcome Home, listed in Poulton and Lam's The Collected Lute Music of John Dowland as No. 66a. This is not an alternate arrangement of the popular melody, but an Altus part meant to provide counterpoint to the Dowland settings described above. This is clear because it uses the same bass line. The piece has been recorded using both parts, which sound excellent together. It is not certain, however, that Dowland composed this addition. ~ John Palmer, All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| Soothing Harp | 2000 |
