Renaissance — Sacred & secular
Renaissance · 1612

Pavan: The Earle of Salisbury

W. Byrd

Key
Am
Time
C
Tempo
♩=60
AO focus
AO3

Incipit

Form

Pavan for keyboard — published in Byrd's 'Parthenia' (1612), one of the first printed keyboard-music books in England. Stately AABB form. A pavan is a slow processional dance.

Teaching points

  • Pavan = slow duple-meter court dance — discuss its place in Renaissance courtly life
  • AABB form with varied repeats (the 'reprise' is ornamented). Coach the ornamentation tradition
  • Practical: Grade 5-6 piano. Sounds harder than it is once the chord-shapes are mapped
Full score ↓Public domain

Score: IMSLP (Parthenia 1612 facsimile + modern editions, all public domain).

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