We will, of course, be the first to say that this isn't a very typical posting for a Wines and Spirits store but we have just come off New Year's Eve and we and our friends are full of memories of parties and dances (some dating way way back in time). One of our patrons this morning (yes we are open and yes this is a holiday or sorts - and we want you to prolong this weekend through dinner tonight in front of endless football games, raise a glass of good cheer and welcome the new year now here to stay)...was speaking of dances as he and his wife got to dance a danceable dance to danceable music at midnight Saturday as they have for decades and his recount brought a tear to our eyes - sentimentalists as we are.
They went home and watched Shakespeare in Love until they fell asleep and he talked about the dancing/entertainment in the movie. The "pavane" scene in particular as he thought Pavanes seemed to be interesting things. They started out as a processional type dance and dates back 500 or so years. Done in pairs and in long lines (think conga line dancing in pairs - side by side) but really slow and in 2/4 time like a march. We suppose our 50s dance "the stroll" is kinda like it...where the partners meet up and then "stroll" down the center. If the stroll and the conga line are outside your experience, think of the hesitation step used for processions (pavanes) down the aisle at weddings...you know...step together step....
On occasion societies and artist communities go through a renaissance revival thing and dances and dance forms populate the output. France had one at the turn of the last century and a look back at classic forms was afoot and taken as inspiration.
Ravel wrote Pavane pour une infante défunte (a pavane for a dead princess or a processional not a funeral procession but a processional dance for princesses long remembered or forgotten and therefore dead who were possibly part of it one upon a time) in 1899. He was a student then of Gabriel Faure who also wrote a Pavane about the same time. Here they are and are very peaceful and nostalgic bits of music. You might note, if you listen to each, that there is a lot alike even though they were the products of two very different minds.
Things don't have to be complex to be of interest.
Ravel wrote Pavane pour une infante défunte (a pavane for a dead princess or a processional not a funeral procession but a processional dance for princesses long remembered or forgotten and therefore dead who were possibly part of it one upon a time) in 1899. He was a student then of Gabriel Faure who also wrote a Pavane about the same time. Here they are and are very peaceful and nostalgic bits of music. You might note, if you listen to each, that there is a lot alike even though they were the products of two very different minds.
Things don't have to be complex to be of interest.
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