A simple, if not melancholic, flute melody drifts across a smattering of pizzicato strings. Graceful oboes overtake the theme, supported by supple violins—contrastingly legato—creating a new air of hopefulness. Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane harbors a simple theme that swirls slowly through the orchestra, decidedly thoughtful. The flute solo converses with the ensemble and, in true Fauré fashion, each iteration of the theme portrays a new, nuanced emotion. The composer is cleverly able to manipulate the emotional weight of each refrain through his intentional orchestrations and harmonic choices. 

Fauré originally composed Pavane for piano, later orchestrating the work for outdoor summer performances that were common in the Victorian era. The composer dedicated his work to his patron, Élisabeth Greffulhe, and was subsequently requested to increase Pavane’s forces. A heightened sense of grandeur was necessary to illustrate Mlle. Greffulhe’s place in Parisian society, and a full choir—optional, but ideally invisible to the audience—was employed, singing text overlaid onto the extant composition. Composing text to compliment extant music was, in truth, a bit backwards, but Fauré acquiesced. Greffulhe’s cousin, Robert de Montesquiou, was a Symbolist poet of note and supplied short but romantic verses, of which Fauré instantly approved. Once the chorus was supplied, a ballet element was requested in short order. What began as an “elegant but not particularly important” work, as described by Fauré, had now snowballed into quite the production. 

Although Pavane is one of Fauré’s most popular works, it is virtually never presented in the “choreographic spectacle” it became in its heyday; generally its presence on an orchestral program is limited to Fauré’s mild orchestral forces, which eliminate low brass, timpani, and percussion. Without its added forces, Pavane is courtly, at times subdued, though it maintains a sophisticated mystique that has certainly earned its longevity in the orchestral canon.