Nuno Côrte-Real com Ensemble Darcos & Eduarda Melo

Time Stands Still is a modern return by Nuno Côrte-Real to the songs for the lute written by the English composer John Dowland. In this version, the songs are sung by Eduarda Melo, interspersed with original works by Côrte-Real, composed in tribute to the artists that he most admires.

Time Stands Still is the title of one of the songs written by John Dowland (1563-1626), an important English composer and musician, and a contemporary of Shakespeare. It makes us reflect upon the recent pandemic that has spread across the world, bringing it to a halt – time stands still. And Fernando Pessoa’s last words, uttered on the day of his death («I know not what tomorrow will bring»), talk to us about the uncertainty of not knowing what tomorrow has in store for us, akin to the sense of insecurity that we are currently experiencing, not knowing the future, not knowing when we will once again be able to make predictions and to control what happens tomorrow.

John Dowland’s Lute Songs are genuine musical treasures. Admittedly, they do not have the grandeur of a symphony, nor the drama of an opera; they are not religious or diabolical, nor do they display any great complexity in their writing and form. Their greatest virtue lies in their sublime spiritual intimacy. They are songs that manifest paradox and melancholy, being typical of the English Elizabethan period and offering a delicate lyricism that never allows the listener to feel bored. The paradox derives from the masterful way in which Dowland sings, for example, of the weeping caused by an unhappy love affair, while, at the same time, revealing the beauty that is to be found in the sadness of this heartbreak (I saw my lady weep); melancholy, a fashionable sentiment at that time, flows with greater or lesser intensity through all of his marvellous songs.

Although we are now far removed from that historical period, there is, however, a certain melancholy to be found between the lines of our present age that brings these songs very much to life. Just as the paradox (or contradiction) that we are experiencing today is to be found everywhere, in all songs, in the essence of the fierce and violent life that we lead, causing the feelings that are contained in those small and intimate songs to well up within us and to become deafening to our ears. Time Stands Still is the perfect epithet for a philosophy of the time and the life that we must urgently debate and build, with all of our strength and all of our spirit.

Interspersed with the songs of the English master are small pieces of original music by Nuno Côrte-Real, creating a bridge between John Dowland’s time and the present day.