Pavane

For other uses, seePavane (disambiguation).

"Padovana", "Paduana", and "Padouana" redirect here. For the chicken breed, seePadovana chicken.

A Pavane,Edwin Austin Abbey,1897

Thepavane(/pəˈvɑːn,pəˈvæn/pə-VA(H)N;Italian:pavana,padovana;German:Paduana) is a slow processionaldancecommon in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance).

The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice byOttaviano Petrucci,inJoan Ambrosio Dalza'sIntabolatura de lauto libro quartoin 1508, is a sedate and dignifiedcouple dance,similar to the 15th-centurybasse danse.The music which accompanied it appears originally to have been fast or moderately fast but, like many other dances, became slower over time.

Origin of term

The wordpavaneis most probably derived from Italian [danza]padovana,meaning "[dance] typical ofPadua"(similar toBergamask,"dance fromBergamo");pavanis an old Northern Italian form for the modern Italian adjectivepadovano(= from Padua).This origin is consistent with the equivalent form,Paduana.

An alternative explanation is that it derives from the Spanishpavónmeaningpeacock.

Although the dance is often associated with Spain,it was "almost certainly of Italian origin".

History

The decorous sweep of the pavane suited the new more sober Spanish-influenced courtly manners of 16th-century Italy. It appears in dance manuals in England,France,andItaly.

The pavane's popularity was from roughly 1530 to 1676,though, as a dance, it was already dying out by the late 16th century.As a musical form, the pavane survived long after the dance itself was abandoned, and well into theBaroqueperiod, when it finally gave way to theallemande/courantesequence..

Music

• Slow duple metre (²
  ₂or⁴
  ₄) by the late 16th century, though there is evidence that it was still a fast dance as late as the mid-16th century, and there are also examples of triple-time pavans from Spain, Italy, and England.
• Two strains of eight, twelve, or sixteen bars each.
• Accent generally comes on the third beat with a secondary accent on the 1st beat though some pavanes place the accent on the first beat with the secondary accent falling on the third.
• Generally follows the form of A–A′–B–B′–C–C′.
• It generally usescounterpointorhomophonicaccompaniment.
• Often accompanied by ataborin a rhythmic pattern ofminim–crotchet–crotchet(¹
  ₂–¹
  ₄–¹
  ₄) or similar.
• This dance was generally paired with theGalliard.
• Usually no florid or running passages in instrumental ensemble settings, but pavans for solo instruments usually included written-out repeat sections with variations.

Dance

At the royal court ofHenry III of France:Anne de Joyeuseand his wife Marguerite de Vaudémont-Lorraine, dancing a pavane.Left under the canopy the king and his motherCatherine de' Medici,to the right of her QueenLouise.The musicians on the right side. (c. 1581)

InThoinot Arbeau's French dance manual, it is generally a dance for many couples in procession, with the dancers sometimes throwing in ornamentation (divisions) of the steps.

TheDictionnaire de Trevouxdescribes the dance as being a "grave kind of dance, borrowed from the Spaniards, wherein the performers make a kind of wheel or tail before each other, like that of a peacock, whence the name." It was usually used by regents to open grand ceremonies and to display their royal attire.Before dancing, the performers saluted the King and Queen whilst circling the room. The steps were calledadvancingandretreating.Retreating gentlemen would lead their ladies by the hand and, after curtsies and steps, the gentlemen would regain their places. Next, a lone gentleman advanced and wenten se pavanant(strutting like a peacock) to salute the lady opposite him. After taking backward steps, he would return to his place, bowing to his lady.

Modern use

The step used in the pavane survives to the modern day in thehesitation stepsometimes used at weddings.

More recent works titled "pavane" often have a deliberately archaic mood. Examples include:

• Pavane(1887) byGabriel Fauré,a modern version of the Renaissance genre.

• Tears and Pavan(2018) byThe Strawbs
• Pavan(2015) byJulian Bream
• Pavane pour une infante défunte(1899) byMaurice Ravel.
• The third part of thePiano Suite No. 2Op. 10, byGeorge Enescu(1903)
• PavanefromPeter Warlock’sCapriol Suite(1926)
• The "Pavane of the Sons of the Morning" that closes scene 7 ofJob: A Masque for Dancing,aballetcomposed byRalph Vaughan Williamsin 1930 and first staged in 1931.
• "Pavane, the Girl with the Flaxen Hair", a dramatic script written and directed byWyllis Cooper,inspired in part by Debussy's composition,for the old-time radio seriesQuiet, Please(1947).
• The Moor's Pavane(1949), a ballet choreographed byJosé Limón.
• The science fiction novelPavane(1968) by British authorKeith Roberts,about an alternative history in which Queen Elizabeth I is assassinated and the Armada wins in the year 1588, using the musical term as a metaphor for the book's setting.
• The song "Pavan" (1970) from the progressive folk albumEvensongbyAmazing Blondel.
• The first part of Maurice Ravel'sMa mère l'oyesuite (1910), entitled "Pavane for the Sleeping Beauty", covered (as"Pavanne") byJoe Walshon his albumSo What(1974).
• The fourth movement of the suite "The Fall of the House of Usher" from the progressive rock albumTales of Mystery and ImaginationbyThe Alan Parsons Project(1976).
• The song "Pavane" byJon Lordof the bandDeep Purple,written and recorded for his solo albumSarabande(1976).
• "Pavane for a Dead Princess" (1978), a jazz version of Maurice Ravel's composition by Art Farmer and Jim Hall, released on the albumBig Blues.
• "Pavane: She's So Fine" (1994) fromJohn's Book of Alleged DancesbyJohn Adams.
• The title of a song fromVerehrt und angespien(1999), the second studio album of the folk metal bandIn Extremo.
• "Pavane (Thoughts of a Septuagenarian)" (2000) by theEsbjörn Svensson Trio.
• The title of a song fromWater Forest(2003), an album byRurutia.
• "A Sad Pavan for These Distracted Times" is part IX ofVladimír Godár's "Querela Pacis" ( "Complaint of Peace" ) oratorio (2010).Thomas Tomkinscomposed a piece with the same title in 1649.SirPeter Maxwell Daviescomposed one also, in 2004. The 'distracted times' refer to the execution of British king Charles I.
• Eric Claptonreleased an acoustic demo song on his Facebook Page on September 30, 2014: "Pavane for Jay A", as a homage to skateboard pioneerJay Adams,who died on August 15, 2014, aged 53.

Literature

• Apel, Willi. 1988.The History of Keyboard Music to 1700.Bloomington: Indiana University Press.ISBN0-253-32795-4.
• Arbeau, Thoinot. 1967.Orchesography,translated by Mary Stewart Evans, with a new introduction and notes by Julia Sutton and a new Labanotation section by Mireille Backer and Julia Sutton. New York: Dover Publications.ISBN0-486-21745-0.
• Brown, Alan. 2001. "Pavan".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,second edition, edited byStanley SadieandJohn Tyrrell.London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Horst, Louis. 1937.Pre-Classic Dance Forms.A Dance Horizons Book. New York: Dance Observer. Reprinted, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Book Co., 1987.ISBN9780916622510.
• Sachs, Curt. 1937.World History of the Dance,translated by Bessie Schönberg. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.