Gosteg Dafydd Athro

This piece, untitled in the Marsh lute book, but commonly known as Arthur's Dump from its ascription in the Braye lute book, is one of the very best virtuoso pieces of the mid-16th century in England, equal to the works of John Johnson in brilliance. Matthew Spring in his book The lute in Britain refers to it as an "astonishing tour de force".

Dumps, a form of improvisational style set on a repetitive bass line were popular during the Tudor period but disappeared as a genre in court circles around the third quarter of the 16th century, towards the beginning of the Golden period of the lute in England. 

In the Marsh lute book, the piece is untitled and assigned to "Philip" at the end [finis Dump Philli], possibly Philip van Wilder, a Dutch musician, active in England from about 1520 till his death in 1534. The same piece also appears in the Osborn commonplace book (also know as the Braye MS) where it is titled "Arthere's Dump". Robert Spencer suggests this might be after Arthur Dewes, lutenist to Henry VIII ca.1510, so 80 years before the Marsh lute book was put together ca.1595 . In both cases the piece would be already somewhat antique at the end of the century. But if the piece was popular enough to last over 5 or more decades, shouldn't we expect to find its presence in more than a mere 2 sources as was the case for many  popular tunes that did survive several decades? The virtuoso character of the piece in the Marsh LB furthermore indicates a very sophisticated style of playing not really found in England before the 1570s or 80s. Indeed, the Osborn version, datable to ca 1560, is much simpler and shorter and accessible to lutenists of lesser ability on the instrument.

Works of the older generation of lutenists however are well represented in the Marsh manuscript, with some pieces by de Rippe and Milano, so it is not unthinkable that either Philip van Wilder or Arthur Dewes may have originated the tune but if so, it was heavily revised by some later century virtuoso lutenist with serious chops. 

Personally, I am inclined to consider the dump as a more particularly British technique, borrowed from that of harp players so I am reluctant to attribute the piece to a Dutch composer. Please see the current state of my research on that subject further below.

I am providing here a transcription of the piece found on pages 426 to 428 of the Marsh lute book, together with a facsimile. Another version of the piece survived in the Osborn lute book, now held at Yale in the Beinecke library, as well as an incomplete version - about the first third only - in the Marsh lute book by the same scribe.

I am also providing an adaptation for guitar in regular notation. Most of the music in the Marsh lute bookk is for a 6-course lute, so it is fairly easy for guitar players to gain access to that repertoire. They should however lower the third course to an F# in order to preserve the original fingerings. Setting a capo on the third fret will restore the original tonality of the piece in C.

Note: a MIDI file is provided under the Contents detail link. There are many fine commercial renderings of this piece by professional lutenists, all of them shaded by their own particular understanding of the piece and the dump as a genre of music. I would recommend that you listen to several for comparison purposes.

The much simpler Osborn commonplace book version of this piece is available as a facsimile: 

• Folio 9 verso
• folio 10 recto

The complete Osborn commonplace book (also known as the Braye MS) is also available in digital facsimile form.

Additionally, Matthew Spring provides a transcription in tablature and regular notation of the Osborn commonplace book's version of this dump in his The Lute In Britain: A History Of The Instrument And Its Music, available in part on Google books.