Lachrimae (Poulton No.15) by John Dowland for Guitar

Lachrimae (Poulton No.15) by John Dowland (1563-1626). PDF sheet music and video for classical guitar. Originally for Renaissance lute. Includes both a notation-only edition with left hand fingering and a separate tab edition. The level is early-advanced (grade 9). This is a PDF Download.

My PDF Sheet Music Edition

Lachrimae by Dowland from Werner Guitar Editions

John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs and lute compositions. Dowland is one of my favourite composers of the Elizabethan era and this work is an excellent set of themes and divisions.

“This solo work was later arranged and composed into the Lachrimæ or seaven teares.The seven pavans are variations on a theme, the “Lachrimæ pavan”, which Dowland had already made well known as a lute solo and a song. (That pavan was reworked into the song “Flow my tears” in Dowland’s Second Book of Songs (1600).” Read more at Wikipedia. Here’s the YouTube Lesson Link if you want to watch it there.

Below is a video on relative lute tuning and capos.

Flow my Tears for Lute and Voice

Below are some examples of Flow my Tears with Ellen Hargis (soprano) and Paul O’Dette (lute) followed by Nigel Rogers (tenor) and Paul O’Dette (lute).

Samples and Promotional Cover

Lachrimae by John Dowland (PDF Sheet Music)

Lachrimae by John Dowland (Sheet Music Sample)

Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 94,000 subscribers and 13 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.