Pavane pour une infante défunte little princess might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court". The pavane was a slow processional dance that enjoyed great popularity in the courts of Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This antique miniature is not meant to pay tribute to any particular princess from history, but rather expresses a nostalgic enthusiasm for Spanish customs and sensibilities, which Ravel shared with many of his contemporaries (most notably Debussy and Albéniz) and which is evident in some of his other works such as the "Rapsodie espagnole" and the "Boléro". Ravel dedicated the "Pavane" to his patron, the Princesse
Polonaise (clothing) by means of interior or exterior loops, buttons or tassels to form swags of material. This style ... was known as "à la polonaise"." This style was characterized by ankle length petticoats that revealed high-heeled walking shoes. Due to this it served as a practical garment for walking because the skirts did not drag along the ground. Since the beginning of the 18th century, middle-class women had adopted various impromptu ways of kilting their overskirts up out of the muck of the streets. The "polonaise" was a fashionable variant of this style. The name "Polonaise" (or "polonese") derives "obviously from