Polonaise

polonaise (pŏl'ənāz`, ō'–), Polish national dance, in moderate 3–4 time and of slow, stately movements. It evolved from peasant and court processions and ceremonies of the late 16th cent. and was later used by J. S. and W. F. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt. Chopin, exiled from Poland, expressed his patriotic fervor in 13 polonaises.

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polonaise

Dignified ceremonial dance in ³⁄₄ time, frequently employing dotted rhythms, that often opened court balls in the 17th–19th century. It likely began as a warrior's triumphal dance and had been adopted by the Polish court as a formal march as early as 1573. The dancers promenaded with gliding steps accented by bending the knee slightly on every third step. It often appeared in ballets, and it was used as a musical form by composers such as George Frideric Handel, Ludwig van Beethoven, and especially Frédéric Chopin, whose piano polonaises were martial and heroic.

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polonaise

1. a ceremonial marchlike dance in three-four time from Poland

2. a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance

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Polonaise 

(1) A stately, processional ballroom dance in ¾ time. Of folk origin, it became a court dance in France and other European countries in the 16th century. Examples are found in the suites and partitas of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel and in works by W. A. Mozart, L. van Beethoven, C. M. Weber, and F. Schubert. The polonaise was extensively developed by F. Chopin. Other composers who wrote polonaises included M. K. Ogiński, O. A. Kozlovskii, K. Kurpiński, H. Wieniaw-ski, Z. Noskowski, and L. Rózycki. M. I. Glinka, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, and other composers used the form in their operas.

(2) A stately instrumental or vocal dance-song in ¾ time. The composer Kozlovskii wrote polonaises, mainly to texts by G. R. Derzhavin, including Let the Thunder of Victory Resound.