MUSIC

Shakespeare contemporary John Dowland's famous lute song "In Darkness Let Me Dwell" was chosen for the final moments of the speech. The lyrics echoe the soliloquy beautifully, following the Elizabethan ideal of "perfect melancholy".

​​The text of the song is taken from an anonymous poem included in the 1606 song collection "Funeral Teares" by John Coprario.

​In darkness let me dwell; the ground shall
sorrow be,
The roof despair, to bar all cheerful light
from me;
The walls of marble black, that moist'ned
shall weep still;
My music, hellish jarring sounds, to banish
friendly sleep.
Thus, wedded to my woes, and bedded to 
my tomb,
O let me living die, till death do come, till
death do come.

WATCH FILM

​​The two renowned musicians, John Potter (tenor) and Jacob Heringman (lute), specially recorded the piece for the film at the oldest church in York, St Mary Bishophill Junior.
​The flashbacks to the king's former majesty were accompanied by Andreas Hammerschmidt's "Wie lieblich sind Deine Wohnungen", a motet from the late Jacobean era which was performed by the "Lechner Kreis" (Germany).

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