The pavan starts out as a short (‘8-bar’) pavan, but the third strain, exceptionally, is 12 semibreves long, and the six sections of the piece thus run to 56 semibreves. The authenticity of both pavan and galliard is somewhat dubious although, as Alan Brown points out,
Weelkes contains ‘no proven false attributions to Byrd’. The other works that present similar stylistic features to this light-weight pair, are themselves of slightly doubtful authenticity. If these two are indeed by Byrd they could date from the 1570s.
from notes by Davitt Moroney © 1999
;)
