Lyrics from English Airs, 1596-1622

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Elizabethan airs were finely textured, charming, witty—even lusty—reflections of contemporary life. All of the collections that appeared between 1596 and 1622, except those attributed to Thomas Campion, are reproduced in this delightful book. Edward Doughtie’s arrangement is chronological, and he gives close attention to the bibliographical peculiarities of the original books. The lyrics appear with only minor changes, and a sample of the original tablature notation is included. Doughtie sets forth the available evidence concerning the date and authorship of each poem, recording variants from as many contemporary printed and manuscript versions as are available. In this exceptional work, he includes extensive incidental information—foreign models, explanations of difficult words and allusions, original spellings—which makes this volume useful as well as fascinating.