> Quite right, Dana, but if memory serves Milan introduces the 6 Pavanas > by saying that the next six fantasias are pavanas. The there's the > problem of pavans being generally in duple and some of the Milan > pavanas are in triple.
I am away from my copy of milan, so I cant confirm your memorys yea or nay; but no matter, the issue is one of performance practice. All renaissance 'artists' had to contend with the conservative nature of the church; anything 'new' was risque (just ask copernicus or galileo). The natural result was constant references to antiquity, and thematic borrowing from the works of your contemporaries to an extent that startles moderns who are used to the constrictions of copyright. The quodlibet form seen at the end of the 15c takes this to an absurd level which is seen in many of the works of PDQ Bach and also in musical medleys. Pavanna are dances, they are slow dances with the steps taken on the tactus, typically one step per modern measure. Lots of time for slow graceful showing off by the strutting peacocks. No matter if the tactus is subdivided triply or duply. Fantasias can work as pavannas, but when new, they lose a bit of allusional power. A piece well known as "the king of spain" evokes an expectation of his appearance when the shalms and sackbuts blare it out. Decades later we see the like in the elizabethan court music with its many pieces dedicated to court personages such as the Earl of Essex (his pavan, his galliarde). Fantasias in various forms are to be expected, forms are a useful compositional restriction, guidelines to work within. But the essencial freedom of a Fantasia lies in its theme(s), original matter, treated whimsically; showing all the the art of the composer (hopefully sufficient art to leave room for the performers art). Dances often have structure, with sections needing repeat here, but not there because of the choreography. The use of the bar is very irregular in this music from its inception, section marking is often unclear, even well into the editions of Playford; having a choreography is an immense help to decideing what sections need repeats; sometimes a lyric will serve the same purpose. Accidents of history deny us complete knowledge of the choreographies for all dance music, in some cases we have worthy choreographies begging for suitable music (eg, Mdm Sosilias Allemande). In some cases we have the challenge of reconciling music to choreography where typos are suspect (Arbeau Bransle de la guerre, over the page turn an obvious pick-up note is not composited on the preceding page where is should have been but instead leads off the next and produces one-too-many notes and much confusion for all). -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
