polonaise

1. A stately, marchlike Polish dance, primarily a promenade by couples.
2. Music for or based on the traditional rhythm of this dance, having triple meter.
3. A woman's dress of the 18th century, having a fitted bodice and draped cutaway skirt, worn over an elaborate underskirt.

[French, from feminine of polonais, Polish, from Medieval Latin Polōnia, Poland.]

For more information on polonaise, visit Britannica.com.

(Fr.)

A stately Polish processional dance or an instrumental piece. The dance, accompanied by singing, has long been used at weddings and public ceremonies. The melodies are in triple metre and have a simple structure, consisting of short phrases usually without upbeat. As a court dance, accompanied by instruments rather than by singing, it became the most highbred expression of the Polish national spirit and the most representative of Polish dances throughout Europe.

The 18th century saw the stylization of the polonaise. Those of Bach (French Suite no.1, Orchestral Suite no.2) show the characteristic features of triple metre, phrases without upbeat and a closing rhythm which throws the accent on to the second beat. German composers propagated the dance as a musical form and many polonaises were written by Telemann, J. G. Goldberg, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Weber and others. Chopin's famous examples established ex.1as the typical polonaise rhythm. Among other notable piano polonaises are those of Schumann and Liszt, and the form was used by several Russian composers, including Musorgsky (Boris Godunov), Tchaikovsky (Sleeping Beauty, Eugene Onegin) and Glinka.

Ex.1

Polish national dance executed in 3/4 time. A solemn and processional dance, it was performed when August the Strong was crowned king of Poland in 1697.

A stately Polish dance in moderate triple time, often with a repeated rhythmic pattern.

For other uses, see Polonaise (disambiguation).

Typical rhythm of a Polonaise

Poles dance Polonez, Kornelli Szlegel

The polonaise (Polish: polonez, chodzony; Italian: polacca) is a slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French for "Polish." The notation alla polacca on a score indicates that the piece should be played with the rhythm and character of a polonaise (e.g., the rondo in Beethoven's Triple Concerto op. 56 has this instruction).

The polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin. Among composers who wrote polonaises, Frédéric Chopin was well known and often acclaimed. Chopin's late polonaise developed a very solemn style, and has in that version become very popular in the classical music of several countries.

Examples of polonaises are the well-known Polonaises Op. 40 (Chopin), composed by Chopin in 1838.

Polonaise is a wide-spread dance in carnival parties. There is also a German song, called "Polonäse Blankenese" from Gottlieb Wendehals alias Werner Böhm, which is often played on carnival festivals in Germany about this dance. Polonaise is always a first dance at a studniówka ("hundred-days"), the Polish equivalent of the senior prom, which is approximately 100 days before exams.

John Philip Sousa, who wrote the Presidential Polonaise, intended to keep visitors moving briskly through the White House receiving line. Sousa wrote it in 1886 at the request of President Chester A. Arthur who died before it was performed.^[1]

See also

• Polka, a 2/4-beat dance of Czech origin
• polska, a 3/4-beat Nordic folk dance
• Polka-mazurka, a 3/4-beat dance, musically similar to the mazurka

References

1. ^ Sousa: Marching Along, p.85 Integrity Press, 1994

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - polonaise
adj. - med rødbede og sur fløde

Nederlands (Dutch)
polonaise

Français (French)
n. - (Mus, Danse) polonaise
adj. - de polonaise

Deutsch (German)
n. - Polonaise
adj. - Polonaise...

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - είδος φορέματος παλαιάς εποχής, πολωνέζ, (μουσ.) πολωνέζα

Italiano (Italian)
polacca

Português (Portuguese)
n. - polonaise (m) (Mús.)

Русский (Russian)
полонез

Español (Spanish)
n. - polonesa
adj. - relativo a las polonesas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - polonäs (dans. o mus.), överklänning m draperat skört

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
波兰舞, 一种女装, 其舞曲, 波兰舞的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 波蘭舞, 一種女裝, 其舞曲
adj. - 波蘭舞的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 폴로네즈, 여성복의 일종(스커트 앞이 갈라져 있음)
adj. - 접시에 계란 노른자와 빵가루와 파슬리로 장식 한

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ポロネーズ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) رقصه البولونيز : رقصه بولنديه الأصل, الموسيقى المصاحبه للرقصه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פולונז (ריקוד ממוצא פולני), לחן לפולונז‬
adj. - ‮מבושל בסגנון פולני‬

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