John Dowland

"My trifles come as treasures from my mind" wrote the English lutenist and composer John Dowland; but his music often told another tale – of an artist who described himself as Semper Dowland, semper dolens: "Always Dowland, always doleful". Yet Dowland was an astonishingly active and entrepreneurial musician who maintained a publishing presence in London throughout a highly cosmopolitan career. There remains doubt about whether he was born near Dublin or in London, but his career took him to France, Italy, Germany and to the court of King Christian IV of Denmark (where he was handsomely paid, and may have worked as a spy). In 1612 he returned to the Stuart court of James I of England as one of several court lutenists – his Catholic faith proving no significant obstacle to his musical duties. Dowland was buried in the churchyard of St Ann's, Blackfriars in London on 20th February 1626, but his music – published in 11 volumes between 1592 and 1612 – reflects a thoroughly international imagination. His lute songs and fantasies embraced the latest continental dance trends, such as the pavan and the galliard, as well as a haunting, often passionate sadness that found its pinnacle in his instrumental collection Lachrimae (1604) – music that has inspired artists as varied as Benjamin Britten and Sting.