Dow Partbooks
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The Dow Partbooks (Christ Church, Mus. MSS 984–988) are a collection of five partbooks compiled by Robert Dow in Oxford around 1581–88. The collection includes mostly choral but also some instrumental pieces. At the end is an instrumental La gamba and a canon, both a 3 and apparently copied from Vincenzo Ruffo's book printed in Milan in 1564.
The partbooks are an important source for Tudor music, and the sole known source for some of the pieces. Robert Dow was a trained calligrapher and the books are unusually easy to read among manuscripts of the Tudor period.
Contents
| No. | Title | Composer | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lamentations. Heth. Peccatum peccavit | Robert White | (Heth, Teth, Iod, Caph, Lamed, Mem) |
| 2. | Miserere mei Deus | Robert White | |
| 3. | Christe qui lux es et dies, I | Robert White | |
| 4. | Christe qui lux es et dies, II | Robert White | |
| 5. | Christe qui lux es et dies, III | Robert White | |
| 6. | Manus tuae fecerunt me | Robert White | |
| 7. | Portio mea, Domine | Robert White | |
| 8. | Justus es, Domine | Robert White | |
| 9a. | Ne irascaris, Domine (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 9b. | Civitas sancti tui (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 10. | O Domine, adjuva me | William Byrd | |
| 11a. | Tribulationes civitatum (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 11b. | Timor et hebetudo (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 11c. | Nos enim pro peccatis (Part 3) | William Byrd | |
| 12. | Domine, exaudi orationem | William Byrd | |
| 13. | Domine, praestolamur | William Byrd | |
| 14. | Ad te clamamus | Christopher Tye | |
| 15. | Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus | Christopher Tye | |
| 16. | Esurientes implevit bonis | John Sheppard | |
| 17. | Angelus ad pastores ait | Orlando di Lasso | |
| 18. | Veni in hortum meum | Orlando di Lasso | |
| 19. | O salutaris hostia | Thomas Tallis | |
| 20. | Salvator mundi, I | Thomas Tallis | |
| 21. | Candidi facti sunt | Thomas Tallis | |
| 22. | Dum transisset Sabbatum | Robert Johnson | |
| 23. | Exaudiat te, Dominus | Robert White | |
| 24. | Tribulationem et dolorem inveni | Alfonso Ferrabosco | |
| 25. | Non me vincat, Deus meus | Nicholas Strogers | |
| 26. | Dum transisset Sabbatum, I | John Taverner | |
| 27a. | Tribulatio proxima est (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 27b. | Contumelias et terrores (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 28. | Appropinquet deprecatio mea | Robert White | |
| 29. | Christus resurgens | John Tailer | |
| 30a. | O quam gloriosum est regnum (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 30b. | Benedictio et claritas (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 31a. | Tristitia et anxietas (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 31b. | Sed tu, Domine (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 32. | Apparebit in finem | William Byrd | |
| 33. | Audivi vocem de caelo | William Byrd | |
| 34. | In resurrectione tua | William Byrd | |
| 35. | Retribue servo tuo | Robert Parsons | |
| 36. | Fac cum servo tuo | William Byrd | |
| 37. | Sive vigilem | William Mundy | |
| 38. | Christe qui lux es et dies, IV | Robert White | |
| 39a. | Deus venerunt gentes (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 39b. | Posuerunt morticinia (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 40. | Domine, tu jurasti | William Byrd | |
| 41. | Exsurge, quare obdormis | William Byrd | |
| 42. | O sacrum convivium | Thomas Tallis | |
| 43. | Salvator mundi, II | Thomas Tallis | |
| 44. | Effuderunt sanguinem (Part 3 of No.39) | William Byrd | |
| 45. | Christe qui lux es et dies | William Byrd | |
| 46. | Laetentur caeli | William Byrd | |
| 47. | Facti sumus opprobrium (Part 4 of No.39) | William Byrd | |
| 48. | Ave Maria | Robert Parsons | |
| 49. | Dum transisset Sabbatum | Roose | |
| 50. | Decantabat populus | Anonymous | |
| 51. | Mirabile mysterium | Alfonso Ferrabosco | |
| 52. | Miserere mei, Deus | William Byrd | |
| 53. | O bone Jesu | Robert Parsons | |
| 54. | Vestigia mea dirige | Nathaniel Giles | |
| 55. | Lord, who shall dwell | Robert White | |
| 56. | The Lord bless us and keep us | Robert White | |
| 57. | O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth | William Byrd | |
| 58. | Prevent us, O Lord | William Byrd | |
| 59. | How long shall mine enemies | William Byrd | |
| 60. | O that most rare breast (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 61. | For thee both kings (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 62. | The doleful debt (Part 3) | William Byrd | |
| 63. | Come to me, grief, for ever | William Byrd | |
| 64. | In fields abroad | William Byrd | |
| 65. | Where fancy fond | William Byrd | |
| 66. | Susanna fair (1588) | William Byrd | |
| 67. | While Phoebus used to dwell | William Byrd | |
| 68. | Why do I use my paper, ink and pen? | William Byrd | |
| 69. | La virginella | William Byrd | |
| 70. | I joy not in no earthly bliss | William Byrd | |
| 71. | Ah, golden hairs | William Byrd | |
| 72. | Lord, in thy wrath reprove me not | William Byrd | |
| 73. | Care for thy soul | William Byrd | |
| 74. | Browning | William Byrd | (instrumental) |
| 75. | Browning | Clement Woodcock | (instrumental) |
| 76. | Miserere | Mallorie | (instrumental) |
| 77. | Ascendo ad Patrem | Jean Maillard | attrib. Tye in MS |
| 78. | Rubem quem | Christopher Tye | (instrumental) |
| 79. | Susanne un jour | Orlando di Lasso | |
| 80. | Madonna somm'accorto | Giacomo Fogliano | attrib. Tye in MS |
| 81. | Pour vous aymer | Philippe van Wilder | |
| 82. | De la court (Part 1) | Robert Parsons | (instrumental) |
| 83. | De la court (Part 2) | Robert Parsons | (instrumental) |
| 84. | Je fille quand Dieu | Philippe van Wilder | |
| 85. | In nomine | Robert Parsons | (instrumental) |
| 86. | In nomine, V | William Byrd | (instrumental) |
| 87. | In nomine, I | Nicholas Strogers | (instrumental) |
| 88. | In nomine, III | Nicholas Strogers | (instrumental) |
| 89. | In nomine, II | Nicholas Strogers | (instrumental) |
| 90. | In nomine | John Bull | (instrumental) |
| 91. | In nomine | Robert White | (instrumental) |
| 92. | In nomine "Follow me" | Christopher Tye | (instrumental) |
| 93. | In nomine, I | Clement Woodcock | (instrumental) |
| 94. | If that a sinner's sighs | William Byrd | |
| 95. | If women could be fair | William Byrd | |
| 96. | Prostrate, O Lord, I lie | William Byrd | |
| 97. | Even from the depth unto the Lord | William Byrd | |
| 98. | When I was otherwise than now I am | William Byrd | |
| 99. | In nomine, I | Brewster | (instrumental) |
| 100. | O God, wherefore art thou absent | Anonymous | |
| 101. | When I look back | Robert Parsons | in Tenor partbook only (Mus. 986) |
| 102. | Come Holy Ghost / In nomine | Anonymous | |
| 103. | O Lord of whom I do depend / In nomine | Anonymous | |
| 104. | O Lord, turn not away thy face / In nomine | Anonymous | |
| 105. | When May is in his prime (Part 1) | Anonymous | |
| 106. | May makes the cheerful hive (Part 2) | Anonymous | |
| 107. | All ye that live on earth (Part 3) | Anonymous | |
| 108. | Ah, alas, you salt sea gods (Part 1) | Richard Farrant | |
| 109. | You gods that guide (Part 2) | Richard Farrant | |
| 110. | A doleful deadly pang | Nicholas Strogers | |
| 111. | My little sweet darling | Anonymous | |
| 112. | Ah, silly poor Joas | Anonymous | |
| 113. | In terrors trapped | Anonymous | |
| 114. | The saint I serve | Anonymous | |
| 115. | How can the tree but waste | Anonymous | |
| 116. | Alas, alack, my heart is woe | Anonymous | |
| 117. | Lulla, lullaby, my sweet little baby (Refrain) | William Byrd | |
| 118. | Be still, my blessed babe (Verse) | William Byrd | |
| 119. | O Lord, how vain | William Byrd | |
| 120. | My mind to me a kingdom is | William Byrd | |
| 121. | Who likes to love | William Byrd | |
| 122. | Enforced by love | Robert Parsons | |
| 123. | Mistrust not truth | Anonymous | |
| 124. | The day delayed | Anonymous | |
| 125. | Come tread the paths (Part 1) | Anonymous | |
| 126. | Farewell, my lords (Part 2) | Anonymous | |
| 127. | Triumph with pleasant melody (Part 1) | William Byrd | |
| 128. | What unacquainted cheerful voice (Part 2) | William Byrd | |
| 129. | My faults, O Christ (Part 3) | William Byrd | |
| 130. | Blessed is he that fears the Lord | William Byrd | |
| 131. | Blame I confess | William Byrd | |
| 132. | O Lord, within thy tabernacle | William Byrd | |
| 133. | How shall a young man | William Byrd | |
| 134. | Though Amaryllis dance in green | William Byrd | |
| 135. | La gamba | Vincenzo Ruffo | (instrumental, Mss. 984-6 only) attrib. "Francesco Mocheni" in MS. |
| 136. | Trinitas in unitate | Vincenzo Ruffo | in Baritone partbook only (Ms. 987) |
| 137. | Hey down, sing ye now after me | Anonymous | in Bass partbook only (Ms. 988) |
- N.B. pieces are numbered sequentially in the table above, rather than following the numbering of the MS, which contains some errors and is inconsistent between the partbooks.
Bibliography
- The Dow Partbooks, Oxford, Christ Church Mus. 984-988: facsimile with introduction by John Milsom (Oxford: DIAMM Publications, 2010)
- D. Mateer: Oxford, Christ Church Music MSS 984–8; an Index and Commentary, RMARC, no.20 (1986–7), 1–18
External links
- High quality, fully zoomable images of the Dow Partbooks are available at the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) (free registration required):
- Free scores from the Dow Partbooks in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
