Moorings 2020

“Come, Heavy Sleep”: Elizabethan Melancholy in the Works of John Dowland and William Byrd Joseph Staub “Come, heavy Sleep, the image of true Death/And close up these my weary weeping eyes” (Dowland 23). This lyric opens the twentieth piece in John Dowland’s First Book of Songs, “Come, Heavy Sleep,” highlights the overall gloom that characterized the lives of underground Catholics in Elizabethan England. The compositions of William Byrd echo this sentiment, as most of them express some form of sadness or penitence. Byrd, among other original compositions in his “Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety,” sets ten psalms to music that are very indicative of this melancholic theme. Unlike Dowland, though, Byrd has a sense of hope that perhaps through faith, the pain and sadness of Catholics will be relieved.

Dowland does not appear to share this hopeful sentiment, instead choosing to wallow in his sorrow. These two early modern composers appropriately illustrate the deep-rooted melancholy of Catholics living in Elizabethan England but differed on their outlooks; Byrd expressed hope for the future while Dowland did not.

There are many theories as to the cause of the rampant feeling of melancholy in early modern England. Humourism, a theory of medicine derived from Ancient Greek and Roman practices, asserted that melancholy was one of four main human temperaments caused by an excess of a certain bodily fluid, in the case of melancholy, an excess of black bile produced in the liver. The melancholic temperament was characterized by introversion, self-reliance, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity. Because of these characteristics, it was often thought that most artists and musicians were in possession of a melancholic temperament (White). It was not until Humourism went out of style in the mid to late-nineteenth century that historians began to discuss why musicians and artists in particular experienced melancholy under Elizabeth.

Moorings 78