ayre
genre of solo song with lute accompaniment that flourished in England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The outstanding composers in the genre were the poet and composer Thomas Campion and the lutenist John Dowland, whose Flow, my teares (Lachrimae) became so popular that a large number of continental and English instrumental pieces were based on its melody. Other leading composers included John Danyel, Robert Jones, Michael Cavendish, Francis Pilkington, Philip Rosseter, and Alfonso Ferrabosco