AIR
John Dowland is the only English composer I know who was a rock star in the Renaissance. He has a great sense of melody. There is almost a pop sensibility to this man and his titles rival Bill in quirkiness (e.g., a song called My Lady Hamilton's Puffe). Here is my rendition of his song called "Air."
When I was younger, I remember being at my classical guitar teacher's Christmas party and unexpectedly asked to perform this piece. I butchered it, flubbed notes, forgot a part, and everything was wrong. I survived but found out that I was too impetuous and unprepared. But I later found out that those qualities are also good qualities for music too. You have to take risks and sometimes things pay off in ways you would never expect. I met a girl who said I was very courageous for playing. So falling on your face can be a great learning moment and open doors to other opportunities.
Thank you Orphan Of Babylon! With the COVID pandemic, I've been concentrating on music, especially acoustic guitar playing. Here is a piece called Adelita by Francisco Tarrega. He would be right at home in our time with his fulsome beard. Beards are all the rage these days. His music has a very European quality and reminds me of the theme from the movie Third Man or maybe even the theme song to the movie Never On Sundays. It has an ethnic, almost "sad gypsy of the streets" quality. John Dowland has clean lines, and a sophisticated English appeal whereas this sounds quite different.