Encyclopedia > Polonaise

Article Content

Polonaise

The polonaise is a rather slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 beat. Its origin is a fore-dance in 4/4 beat to a faster after-dance, which became the mazurka.

Before Frédéric Chopin, the polonaises had a rythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin. From Chopin and onward, the polonaise developed a very solemn style, and has in that version become very popular in the classical music of several countries.

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article

Battle Creek, Michigan

... are 21,348 households out of which 32.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.9% are married couples living together, 16.1% have a female householder ...