Polonaise

The polonaise is a Polish triple-meter (3/4) dance characterized by a dignified walking tempo and a distinctive rhythmic cell — a quarter note followed by two eighth notes and two quarters, the heavy first beat anchoring the bar. Unlike a waltz, the polonaise doesn't rotate; it processes. In Chopin's hands the form expanded into large concert pieces with extended middle sections and virtuosic figuration, while keeping the characteristic walking rhythm at the core.

The polonaise originated in 16th-century Polish noble court music as a ceremonial processional, spreading across European courts by the 18th century (Bach and Telemann both wrote polonaises). After the partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795) erased the Polish state, the dance took on patriotic weight. Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), composing in Paris exile, wrote sixteen polonaises that became unofficial national anthems. His Polonaise in A-flat major Op. 53 (1842, the 'Heroic') was reportedly broadcast by Polish Radio every day during the September 1939 Nazi invasion as an act of resistance.

Don't expect the music to rotate as in a waltz — the polonaise marches. The first beat of each bar takes the weight, and the characteristic rhythmic cell repeats in the left hand. In Chopin's polonaises, the central sections often slip into more anxious or dream-like material before the heroic outer sections return.

Start with Chopin's 'Heroic' Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 (1842) — heroic, technically demanding, and rhythmically the clearest example of the form. For the more interior side try his Polonaise-Fantaisie Op. 61 (1846); for a brighter military feel, Op. 40 No. 1.

Chopin's 'Polonaise Heroique' is so deeply associated with Polish national identity that for decades it functioned as an unofficial anthem in concert and broadcast. Yet Chopin spent the second half of his life in France and never returned to Poland after 1830.