Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess)

1. 0:00
   Opening melody on G

   The melody holds its first note, G, while the accompaniment plays detached quavers beneath it. Ravel marked the passage “Assez doux, mais d’une sonorité large”.

2. 0:38
   Commission and dedication

   The Princesse de Polignac commissioned the piece and received its dedication. Fauré, Ravel’s teacher, had introduced him to her Paris salon. Ricardo Viñes gave the public première on 5 April 1902 at the Société nationale de musique.

3. 0:48
   Très lointain, over low B octaves

   Très lointain — very distant. Low B octaves are held beneath a melody in closely spaced chords. The walking bass of the opening has stopped, and the chords move together above the held notes.

4. 2:28
   The title and the Spanish court

   Ravel described the piece as a pavane that a young princess might have danced at the Spanish court centuries earlier. He orchestrated it in 1909, ten years after the piano original.

5. 2:44
   Sudden soft legato passage

   A broad fortissimo chord is followed by a line marked subitement très doux et très lié. B♭ colours the melody, and short connecting notes fill its gaps. Later the piano plays forcefully again.

6. 4:04
   Last refrain, new accompaniment

   The melody returns above a new accompaniment in flowing semiquavers. Ravel marks it marquez le chant, so the tune stands clear of the moving notes. Its long phrases stay recognisable while the accompaniment grows busier around them.

7. 5:00
   Final chord

   The ending broadens greatly. The last G major chord is marked fortissimo and held under a fermata.

Joins

1. 0:48
   Walking bass stops on low B

   The refrain broadens, then the tempo is restored and the next phrase is marked Très lointain. Low B octaves hold beneath a B minor melody in chords. The piano’s walking bass stops, and the upper voices move together above it.

2. 1:54
   Fermata before the G major return

   Chromatic chords move to a close marked un peu plus lent, and a fermata holds the last chord. At Reprenez le mouvement the original tempo resumes and the G major refrain returns, now accompanied by fuller chords in the bass.

3. 2:44
   Fortissimo chord to a soft, legato line

   The G major refrain reaches a chord marked Large and fortissimo. A line marked subitement très doux et très lié follows. B♭ enters the melody, and the bass leaves more space beneath the upper notes.

4. 4:04
   A 2/4 bar before the refrain

   The piano descends through chromatic chords. Ravel writes Très grave, shortens the bar to 2/4 and puts a fermata on the last chord. The G major refrain then resumes in four beats, with its melody above a new semiquaver accompaniment.