Consists mainly of traditional or well-known airs arranged for solo, duet and ensemble performances on the lute and written in French lute tablature compiled for pedagogical purposes (a lesson book). Composers include John Dowland, John Johnson, King Henry VIII, Richard Allisonn and Robert Johnson. Also includes tablature fragments and other inscriptions some in inkless writing (drypoint), among them Latin verses and a cypher. Inscriptions, including scribblings, appear at both ends of manuscript.
Note
Many leaves blank. Single stubs appear between each of the following leaves: 6 and 7, 56 and 57, 75 and 76, 81 and 82. The first music leaf is torn and much of the music is missing from the leaf. About a dozen hands appear in the manuscript, of which nine are responsible for the lute tablature. Most of the music was copied by two hands: Thomas Bothby and John Dowland, who signed several of his works which were transcribed by another copyist. Other copyists include John Johnson, Robert Johnson (son of John), Robert Dowland (son of John) and Anne Bayldon. Sometimes referred to as: The Dowland lutebook. Poems listed in Folger index of first lines. Facsimile available: The Lute Society facsimiles 3: The Folger 'Dowland' manuscript. Albury: Lute Society, c2003. (M140.F65 2003) For transcriptions and performances of music see: http://musickshandmade.com/projects/Folger/DowlandMS.html [Note: Link reported broken on 6 April 2015] Presented by Ian Harwood "Aspects of the Folger's Dowland lute book (MS V.b.280)" at "Harmony's entrancing power": Music in early modern England. Folger Institute Faculty Weekend Seminar, 23-24 September 2005. This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It contains unverified data from catalog cards and may contain incorrect or incomplete information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Publications about material
For a discussion of this manuscript see Journal of the Lute Soc. of America, X (1976), p. 5-29. "The pen's excellencie" : treasures from the manuscript collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library / compiled and edited by Heather Wolfe. Seattle : Distributed by University of Washington Press, 2002, p. 138-140.
Provenance
John Dowland or student of -- Thomas Bothby -- Anne Bayldon -- C.B.-- M.L. Dowland.
Source of acquisition
Purchased on 15 November 1926 by Henry Clay Folger from Sotheby's, lot 704.
Exhibited
Exhibited: "The Pen's Excellencie" : Treasures from the Manuscript Collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library, curated by Heather Wolfe, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., February 6- June 8, 2002. Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, 2006. "Noyses, sounds, and sweet aires" (catalog entry 34)
Cited/described in
Charteris, R. Annotated catalogue of the music manuscripts in the Folger, 104 Ricci, S. de. Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, 1610.1
