Dow Partbooks


The Dow Partbooks 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. All works were copied by him, with the exception of numbers 53-4, which were copied by John Baldwin, and nos. 99-100, which were copied by an unidentified person. The numberings following no. 54 were added by several other people at a later time, in sequences that do not coincide perfectly.
The collection was acquired by Henry Aldrich and donated to Christ Church, Oxford as part of his bequest to the college following his death in 1710.

Contents

No.TitleComposerComments
1.Lamentations. Heth. Peccatum peccavit
2.Miserere mei Deus
3.Christe qui lux es et dies, I
4.Christe qui lux es et dies, II
5.Christe qui lux es et dies, III
6.Manus tuae fecerunt me
7.Portio mea, Domine
8.Justus es, Domine
9a.Ne irascaris, Domine
9b.Civitas sancti tuiPart 2 of no. 9
10.O Domine, adjuva me
11a.Tribulationes civitatum
11b.Timor et hebetudoPart 2 of no. 11
11c.Nos enim pro peccatisPart 3 of no. 11
12.Domine, exaudi orationem
13.Domine, praestolamur
14.Ad te clamamus
15.Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus
16.Esurientes implevit bonis
17.Angelus ad pastores ait
18.Veni in hortum meum
19.O salutaris hostia
20.Salvator mundi, I
21.Candidi facti sunt
22.Dum transisset Sabbatum
23.Exaudiat te, Dominus
24.Tribulationem et dolorem inveni
25.Non me vincat, Deus meus
26.Dum transisset Sabbatum, I
27a.Tribulatio proxima est
27b.Contumelias et terroresPart 2 of no. 27
28.Appropinquet deprecatio mea
29.Christus resurgens
30a.O quam gloriosum est regnum
30b.Benedictio et claritasPart 2 of no. 30
31a.Tristitia et anxietas
31b.Sed tu, DominePart 2 of no. 31
32.Apparebit in finem
33.Audivi vocem de caelo
34.In resurrectione tua
35.Retribue servo tuo
36.Fac cum servo tuo
37.Sive vigilem
38.Christe qui lux es et dies, IV
39a.Deus venerunt gentes
39b.Posuerunt morticiniaPart 2 of no. 39
40.Domine, tu jurasti
41.Exsurge, quare obdormis
42.O sacrum convivium
43.Salvator mundi, II
44.Effuderunt sanguinemPart 3 of no. 39
45.Christe qui lux es et dies
46.Laetentur caeli
47.Facti sumus opprobriumPart 4 of no. 39
48.Ave Maria
49.Dum transisset SabbatumRoose
50.Decantabat populusAnonymous
51.Mirabile mysterium
52.Miserere mei, Deus
53.O bone Jesu
54.Vestigia mea dirige
55.Lord, who shall dwell
56.The Lord bless us and keep us
57.O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth
58.Prevent us, O Lord
59.How long shall mine enemies
60.O that most rare breast
61.For thee both kingsPart 2 of no. 60
62.The doleful debtPart 3 of no. 60
63.Come to me, grief, for ever
64.In fields abroad
65.Where fancy fond
66.Susanna fair
67.While Phoebus used to dwell
68.Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?
69.La virginella
70.I joy not in no earthly bliss
71.Ah, golden hairs
72.Lord, in thy wrath reprove me not
73.Care for thy soul
74.Browning
75.Browning
76.MiserereMallorie
77.Ascendo ad Patremattrib. Tye in MS
78.Rubem quem
79.Susanne un jour
80.Madonna somm'accortoattrib. Tye in MS
81.Pour vous aymer
82.De la court
83.De la court, Part 2 of no. 82
84.Je fille quand Dieu
85.In nomine
86.In nomine, V
87.In nomine, I
88.In nomine, III
89.In nomine, II
90.In nomine
91.In nomine
92.In nomine "Follow me"
93.In nomine, I
94.If that a sinner's sighs
95.If women could be fair
96.Prostrate, O Lord, I lie
97.Even from the depth unto the Lord
98.When I was otherwise than now I am
99.In nomine, IBrewster
100.O God, wherefore art thou absentAnonymous
101.When I look backin Tenor partbook only
102.Come Holy Ghost / In nomineAnonymous
103.O Lord of whom I do depend / In nomineAnonymous
104.O Lord, turn not away thy face / In nomineAnonymous
105.When May is in his primeAnonymous
106.May makes the cheerful hiveAnonymousPart 2 of no. 105
107.All ye that live on earthAnonymousPart 3 of no. 105
108.Ah, alas, you salt sea gods
109.You gods that guidePart 2 of no. 108
110.A doleful deadly pang
111.My little sweet darlingAnonymous
112.Ah, silly poor JoasAnonymous
113.In terrors trappedAnonymous
114.The saint I serveAnonymous
115.How can the tree but wasteAnonymous
116.Alas, alack, my heart is woeAnonymous
117.Lulla, lullaby, my sweet little baby
118.Be still, my blessed babe
119.O Lord, how vain
120.My mind to me a kingdom is
121.Who likes to love
122.Enforced by love
123.Mistrust not truthAnonymous
124.The day delayedAnonymous
125.Come tread the pathsAnonymous
126.Farewell, my lordsAnonymousPart 2 of no. 125
127.Triumph with pleasant melody
128.What unacquainted cheerful voicePart 2 of no. 127
129.My faults, O ChristPart 3 of no. 127
130.Blessed is he that fears the Lord
131.Blame I confess
132.O Lord, within thy tabernacle
133.How shall a young man
134.Though Amaryllis dance in green
135.La gamba attrib. "Francesco Mocheni" in MS.
136.Trinitas in unitatein Tenor partbook only
137.Hey down, sing ye now after meAnonymousin Bassus partbook only