Drawn from Dowland's Lachrimae, or Seven Tears Figured in Seven Passionate Pavans, this piece, like the six other items in the collection, begins with a four-note "falling tear" motif first heard in Dowland's song Flow, My Tears. This pavan is one of the most melancholy pieces in the dolorous suite, although the material Dowland spins out from the four notes is quite wide-ranging and inventive. The adjectives antiquae novae aren't as contradictory as they appear; this is a new (novae) composition related to an earlier piece called Lachrimae Antiquae. In Thomas Simpson's Opusculum of 1610, the pavan was paired with a galliard, closely related to the pavan in mood and melody; the chief difference between the two lies in the galliard's more active rhythm and bass line.

© All Music Guide