The Pavan in English Music of the 16th–17th Centuries

Abstract

The article is devoted to recreation of the genre Pavan evolution in English music of the 16th–17th centuries. The research involved diverse sources such as early treatises, musical and practical manuals, old-printed musical editions and modern anthologies of the English music of the 16th–17th centuries that allowed to review the Pavan as a vivid representative of the genre system of 16th–17th centuries English instrumental music, to locate the main centers of its expansion (the Tudors and Stuarts Royal Courts, the Houses of English authoritative stripes and Inns of Court) and to concretize some idea about its functional and communicative features, to determine a range of English Pavan authors from William Byrd and Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder (who were silent trendsetters in the musical and artistic tastes at the English Court in the second half of the 16th century) to Henry Purcell (who became a leader in the development of English music in the last quarter of the 17th century marked by vanishing of national late Renaissance and early Baroque traditions in the chamber instrumental music-making). In the article there were defined the vectors for new treatment of dance genre, have been developing its composition from anonymous to author’s one with clearly recognizable individual style of writing. It emphasizes the systematics of the variety of surviving Pavans with different titles, which reflects the compositional-technological or figurative-emotional features of dance pieces. Apart from the others the “named” Pavans and the pieces related to them and created in traditions ‘In memoriam’ were examined. The results of scientific research could be used for the further development of the musical style questions and compositional method of English composers of the 16th–17th centuries related to the mutual cultural and historical tradition.