Alyssa Johnson

Can she excuse my wrongs? (Four voices with lute)

John Dowland
16
th
Century

John Dowlands Can she excuse my wrongs? was composed as part of Dowlands
First Booke of Songs or Ayres. This piece is a great example of Renaissance consort music, as
there are various arrangements of this piece for voice as well as instruments such as the lute and
harpsichord. The text of this song communicates a lovers frustration towards his female
counterpart, and was written by Robert Devereaux, the Second Earl of Essex and suitor to Queen
Elizabeth I.
Dowlands use of imitative polyphony throughout the piece serves multiple aesthetic
functions. With one function being, besides the differing notes, the varying polyphonic rhythms
that are assigned to each voice part. The soprano part keeps the rhythm of the original piece
while the lower voices are more independent, moving at separate intervals. A notable example of
this would be when the text says No, no, where shadow do for bodies stand. Dowland also
changes the rhythm of the polyphony with each musical section, meaning that the two A sections
share the same polyphonic rhythm, the B sections share the same rhythm, as well as the C
sections share the same rhythm. While, the use of polyphony adds texture, Dowland also uses the
absence of this affect to taper each phrase. The song remains polyphonic until the last word of
each phrase, where there is a homophonic moment of harmony.
Personally, I find the use of imitative polyphony in this song adds textural interest to an
otherwise simple melody, which I believe is crucial when arranging that was so popular in its
time period. Also, the intentional absence of polyphony in the endings of phrases increases the
effect by presenting textural contrast. As various settings were created for the same songs, it is
critical that each arrangement offer something unlike what the other versions before it already
had, and I believe that Dowland used such subtleties to accomplish just that.

[319 words]



Alyssa Johnson
Agnus Dei (From the Mass for Four Voices)
William Byrd
16
th
Century

William Byrds Agnus Dei from Mass for Four Voices was an example of Renaissance
polyphonic sacred music. Based on the original Catholic Mass plainchant of the same name,
Byrds Agnus Dei features the same Latin invocation as its precursor. All composers of sacred
music at this time all included the same liturgical texts in their music. This particular piece
however, was written to be sung in the small fellowships of the private services of Catholic
recusants. The text invokes the name of Christ three times, then alternating from have mercy on
us in the first two invocations, followed by give us peace, in the final one.
Byrd makes definite use of imitative polyphony in this piece, making use of it through the
motives within it. The use of staggered entrances throughout the piece, with each line being led
by a specific voice part, is notably exemplified with the opening Agnus Dei, as the altos
always lead into the next phrase. The entrances throughout the song all begin in a similar manner
note and rhythm wise, allowing one to clearly hear the imitation before breaking off into
individual parts. As the song goes on Byrd builds on the text, adding in a greater number of
points of polyphony with each new motive, and by adding a greater number of voice parts with
each phrase. Byrd also uses dissonant notes and harmonies during the entirety of the piece,
creating a pleading sort of atmosphere; however this trend is also extinguished during the last
ending note of the word pacem.
I personally believe that Byrds Agnus Dei was an innovation in the genre of secular
music, as he used this piece to explore and exemplify the ways in which polyphony could be
used to embellish the music of the church. He creates a deeper interest in the text by using
polyphony to build the intensity of the prayer with each time that it is sung, creating a feeling of
authentic piety and succeeding in taking sacred music from just functional in its text but also
functional in evoking such emotions within those who would hear it. The song travels through
the beautiful melancholy of prayer with the dissonant imitation and ends with the relief of a
prayer answered by way of the last resolution of pacem.


[383 words]