This edition was prepared by Brian Russell — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Go crystal tears
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs, Lute songs
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2 editions of this piece
Different typesettings and voicings of the same work. This page shows the main edition; the others are below.
SATB · Bettina Blokland
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Go crystal tears by John Dowland — Lyrics
Go crystal tears, like to the morning showers,
And sweetly weep into thy lady's breast.
And as the dews revive the drooping flow'rs.
So let your drops of pity be address'd
To quicken up the thoughts of my desert,
Which sleeps too sound whilst I from her depart.
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About Go crystal tears
John Dowland's Go crystal tears is a four-part setting of a plaintive English text. The composer, renowned for his lute songs, here turns his skill to a secular part-song. The lyrics express the singer's plea to his absent lady, asking his tears and sighs to move her to pity. He laments her coldness, comparing it to death, and contrasts it with his own constant devotion, offered with a "spotless heart and patient eyes." The music would have been appreciated by those familiar with the sophisticated part-song tradition of the English Renaissance.
