SEEKING REST

Perhaps the most famous line from the tv show, Downton Abbey, is uttered by Dame Maggie Smith’s character, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, during one of the lavishly formal family dinner scenes, where she asks suspiciously: “What is a weekend?” While I and many of my friends have shared a hearty laugh quoting that line over drinks in the past, as the pandemic keeps us locked down, working from home with the one day practically indistinguishable from the next, as if we are trapped in some sort of capitalist hell-scape, the question feels less and less funny.

I’ve had many conversations with almost everyone in my life about the importance of setting boundaries around our devices and work lives in the midst of this crisis, and how protecting our downtime feels increasingly critical towards preserving our sanity. Being the weekend, I thought it might be nice to keep today’s post short and share with you a song about longing for some rest by the greatest singer-songwriter of the 1500 and 1600s, John Dowland.

JOHN DOWLAND: Come, Heavy Sleep with Ann Marie Morgan, viola da gamba. Filmed in Denver, CO in May 2017.

Many thanks to the generous donors who made the production of this video possible, as well as to the wonderful people at Epiphany Lutheran and Happy Hour Chamber Concerts (especially Dan Seger, Ron Roschke, and Russell Pierce) for hosting this private concert back in May of 2017.