from the outset, the pavane has enjoyed immense popularity, whether with or without chorus. with choreography by léonide massine a ballet version entered the repertoire of sergei diaghilev's ballets russes in 1917, where it was alternatively billed as "las mininas" or "les jardins d'aranjuez". for massine, the music had "haunting echoes of spain's golden age" parallelling the formality and underlying sadness he found in the paintings of velázquez. some critics found the ballet pallid, but diaghilev retained a fondness for the piece, and kept it in the company's repertoire until the end of his life.