Dowland published his Third Book of Songs in 1603, his Second having come three years before. Thus this effort likely dated to the period in between. What if I never speed? was the ninth of 21 items in that penultimate volume of Dowland's songs. It is a gentle, lovely creation whose slow pacing and mixture of monophonic and contrapuntal writing yields a brilliant, if melancholy effort of great beauty. Dowland, of course, was known to write sad music, and this song is a fine example of that tendency. The text is taken from an anonymous source, and the key word in it, "speed," has, as one would surmise, nothing to do with swiftness of movement, but instead pertains to one's having good fortune or luck. The gentle, melancholy melody here suggests that the text's protagonist will not indeed experience such a blessing. For all the gloom and sense of desolation here, though, the melody is quite lovely and memorable, and Dowland's three-part writing deftly wrings imaginative color from the voices. This is another gem from this still-underrated Elizabethan composer.

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