Responding to speculation as to the meaning of this Pavane, Ravel explained: “When I assembled the words of this title I had nothing more in mind than the pleasure of alliteration”. The title is therefore very much an integral part of the piece, and any soulless attempt to translate it (as ‘Pavane for a dead infanta’, or similar) must be fiercely resisted. Ravel was fond of playing with this alliteration; when the young pianist Charles Oulment played the Pavane for him at quite a slow tempo, Ravel took him aside and said: “Listen, young man, next time bear in mind that I’ve written a Pavane pour une infante défunte, not a Pavane défunte pour une infante.” Like Le Tombeau de Couperin (above), it began as a piano piece; it was written in 1899 and was highly successful, so it was a natural progression (possibly suggested by his publisher) for Ravel to orchestrate it. In its new form it became even more popular, so that by 1948 Alfred Cortot, a renowned interpreter of Ravel's piano works, was able to declare that the piano version conveyed the impression of a piano reduction rather than an original composition, and that Ravel had been right to restore the piece to its true guise as an orchestral work.

sources

Pf  First edition of version for piano solo, published in 1900 by E. Demets, Paris

A  Autograph score of version for orchestra (1909), Stichvorlage for E, auctioned by Sotheby’s, London on 21 May 2004 for L110,000, in the private collection of Nigel Hughes

E,P  First edition of full score and parts of orchestral version, published by Demets in 1910