Following the successful publication of John Dowland's First Booke of Songs for lute and voices in 1597, the lutenist and composer gained a court post. It was not the one in England he had sought from Elizabeth I, but at the court of the Danish King Christian IV, a discerning patron of music who offered Dowland a generously paid position as court lutenist. He took up his appointment at some time during 1598, and it was from the Danish court that Dowland arranged for the publication of his Second Booke of Songs two years later. They were seen through the press by the London publisher George Eastland, who supplemented Dowland's fulsome dedication with an ingenious poem of his own using the name of the dedicatee, Lucy, Countess of Bedford as an acrostic. The book contains 22 songs which, in common with most of Dowland's songs, are generally sung by a solo voice with accompaniment lute. However, since eight of the songs have fully texted bass parts supporting the solo line, duet performance is an alternative option. The book opens with two of the composer's finest songs, the first being "I saw my Lady weep," a love song described by Dowland's biographer Diana Poulton as "a work of extraordinary beauty." It is inscribed "To the most famous Anthony Holborne," a generous tribute to one of Dowland's finest contemporaries. It is followed by Flow my tears, one of Dowland's influential and renowned songs. Cast in pavan form, its famous falling "tear-drop" motif later formed the foundation for his greatest instrumental work, Lacrimae or Seven Teares for viol consort and lute. Later songs in the book explore such familiar Dowlandesque topics as grief, melancholy, and aging (Nos. 6-9), with lighter relief coming in the form of the lively Fine knacks for ladies (No. 12). Throughout the songs in the book, Dowland displays his characteristic skill in closely unifying the voice and lute parts, producing a true contrapuntal equality between the two rarely matched by his contemporaries, who were generally content to allot the instrument a simpler accompanying role.

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