Slow and Quiet by Benjamin Britten (1913 -1965)
 Nocturnal After John Dowland, Op. 70 is a classical guitar piece composed in 1963 by English composer Benjamin Britten (1913 -1965) for guitarist Julian Bream. It is considered one of the most influential works written in the 20th century for the classical guitar. |
Notes
20th century. Edited by Julian Bream. Slow and Quiet. Molto Tranquillo. Time Signature 4/4. 2 pages. 20 Measures. Key of E. Slow and Quiet is the final movement of Nocturnal after Dowland. Julian Bream premiered the piece on 12 June 1964.
The piece acts as a sort of reverse theme and variations based on “Come, Heavy Sleep” from John Dowland’s First Book of Songs (1597). Rather than begin the piece with the main theme followed by its variations, the theme does not appear in its original form until the very end. Each variation contains fragments of Dowland’s theme, most notably the use of the perfect fourth interval. The variations move progressively closer to the Dowland song concluding the piece.
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