25Oct25: I have just finished work on US-Ws:Folger Shakespeare Library V.b.280:Dowland MS (c.1600).
This appears to have been written in Dowland’s own hand, all except for the last few pages.
Apart from Dowland’s excellence as a composer, he turns out to be the best scribe I have ever encountered. There are almost no errors in the entire MS, and the handwriting is very clear, readable, and unambiguous.
The 66 pieces in the MS are mostly very familiar English pieces (excellent versions of these), with a few corantos thrown in, probably of French origin.
The first 4 pieces are not readable because most of f. 1 has been ripped off, so my numbering starts from 5.
Although Dowland has crusaded against excessive ornamentation, the pieces in this MS are quite heavily adorned with ornaments. The left hand fingering has been done thoroughly and meticulously in the pieces in Dowland’s handwriting, omitted in the work of the later scribe.
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