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) one with the gathered-up skirt. "Peterson's Magazine" also described a 'Polonaise basque' as being gathered fully on the hips and forming a deep tunic in the back. "Godey's Magazine" for August 1871 identifies the term "polonaise" with two separate garments, a bodice and an overskirt: The second paragraph quoted describes a specific style of dressing "à la polonaise" which was popularly known as "Dolly Varden" after the heroine of Dickens' historical novel "" (set in 1780). By the end of the 1870s and into the 1880s, the term 'polonaise' also described an overdress which resembled a long coat worn over