pavan (Fr. pavane; It. pavana; old forms incl. pavin, pavyn, paven, etc.). The pavan was a dance of It. orig., popular in the 16th and 17th cents., and as the name sometimes appears as padovana it is assumed that its orig. home was Padua. It was in simple duple time, and of stately character. In Italy the pavan gave way to the passamezzo by the mid-16th cent., but was given a new lease of life by its treatment by Eng. composers, e.g. Byrd, Dowland, Bull, and Philips. It was usually paired with the galliard and their assoc. was the orig. of the suite. Some 19th- and 20th-cent. composers have written works to which they gave the name Pavan, e.g. Fauré's Pavane, Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte, and the Pavan in Vaughan Williams's Job.

pavan stately dance in elaborate costume. XVI. — F. pavane — Sp. pavana — It. pavana of Padua.