This pavane – Belle qui tiens ma vie was originally composed by Thoinot Arbeau as part of his Orchesographie – a study of French Renaissance social dance written in 1589. Thoinot Arbeau is actually an anagrammatic nom de plume of the French cleric Jehan Tabourot (1520 – 1595). Interestingly enough this pavane is also best known to us as part of Capriol Suite by Peter Warlock, that name also being a nom de plume of Philip Heseltine.
In arranging it I have stayed close to the homophonic texture of the original but added counter lines to add to the dramatic tension in several places.
