The

Polonaise The polonaise (, ; pl, polonez ) is a dance of Polish origin, one of the five Polish national dances in time. Its name is French for "Polish" adjective feminine/"Polish woman"/"girl". The original Polish name of the dance is Chodzony, meani ...

in F-sharp minor, Op. 44, is a piece for solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

written by Frédéric Chopin in 1841. It is often referred to as the "tragic" polonaise, due to its dark nature. The polonaise is dedicated to Princess Ludmilla de Beauveau, a prominent member of the Polish émigré community in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Despite its title, the polonaise is a composite work in

ternary form Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples inclu ...

. The piece opens with a short menacing passage, and soon develops into a dark and often furious polonaise theme. The central section of the piece is a mazurka in A major that provides a romantic contrast. The mazurka soon gives in to darker harmonies and the polonaise returns after two isolated torrents of notes. At length, the reprise seems to lose force and momentum, and Chopin concludes the work with a surprising fortissimo double octave on F#. One of the largest polonaises, a typical performance of the work lasts around eleven minutes. The piece is often considered the first of three "grand polonaises", (the other two being the Polonaise Op. 53 'Heroic', and the Polonaise-Fantaisie Op. 61) in which Chopin largely abandoned the old formula derived directly from dance practice. The time had come for polonaises subjected to free fantasy, for more heroic dance poems. In fact, Chopin was known to have said to the publisher, ‘I have a manuscript for your disposal. It is a kind of fantasy in polonaise form. But I call it a Polonaise’.

References

External links

*
Polonaise Op. 44
on YouTube, performed by

Anna Fedorova Anna Borysivna Fedorova ( uk, А́нна Бори́сівна Фе́дорова; born February 27, 1990) is a Ukrainian concert pianist. Fedorova performs as soloist, chamber musician and with symphony orchestras in the major concert halls of th ...

. Polonaises by Frédéric Chopin 1841 compositions Compositions in F-sharp minor {{classical-composition-stub Polonaises