Polonaise

The polonaise or polonez, was first introduced in the 17th century in French courts. This dance in 3/4 meter was designed to entertain the royal french court and bring satisfaction to the royals. This form originated in Poland and was very popular throughout Europe When the 18th century started, the term polonaise was used over the term polonez due to the start of the new century.

Princess Anna Maria of Saxony collected polonaise throughout her life time. She ended up taking the only ones that were valuable in instrumentation making them the greatest she could find. She ended up collecting over 350 polonaise throughout her life. She ended up being so valuable that she became a grand duchess before she passed away.

Many famous composers such as Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin all used this form in their compositions. Other famous composers like Tchaikovsky and Liszt also used this form in their music for symphonies and operas. one of these operas was called Eugene Onegin, an opera which very closely contains Alexander Pushkins novel in poetry verse. The opera was first preformed in Moscow in 1879. This opera also shows great signs of lyric opera, a type of opera that added a dramatic nature. At first, Tchaikovsky didn't really know what to think of his idea involving Pushkins verse novel, but after looking through it, he decided that it was brilliant due to the strength of the novel, and how much it impacted peoples life.