Pavane (novel) the site of a semaphore station, and the castle at Corfe is a key presence in the book. Over all, the long arm of the Popes reached out to punish and reward; the Church Militant remained supreme. But by the middle of the twentieth century widespread mutterings were making themselves heard. Rebellion was once more in the air . . . The title alludes to the stately and melancholy dance, the pavane, the book being divided thematically into measures and a coda. After a brief Prologue explaining the back-story, the stories are: "Pavane" soon found an important place in the
Pavane pour une infante défunte piece depicted a pavane as it would be danced by an infanta found in a painting by Diego Velazquez. When Ravel published his orchestrated version of the "Pavane" in 1910, he gave the lead melody to the horn, and specified a non-generic instrument: the score calls for "2 Cors simples en sol" (two hand-horns in G). The teaching of the valveless hand-horn had persisted longer in the Paris Conservatory than in other European centers; only in 1903 had the valve horn replaced it as the official horn of primary instruction. The orchestral score was published in 1910. The premiere was