mazurka - Media

A quick Polish dance in triple metre, with a strong accent on the second or third beat. Chopin wrote numerous examples for piano.

The mazurka (Polish: mazurek, probably named after Poland's Masuria district) is a Polish folk dance in triple metre with a lively tempo, containing a heavy accent on the third or second beat.

Several classical composers have written mazurkas, with the best known being the 58 composed by Frédéric Chopin for solo piano.

In Swedish folk music, the quaver or eight-note polska has a similar rhythm to the mazurka, and the two dances have a common origin.

The dance was also common as a popular dance in the United States in the late 19th century. In France, Impressionistic composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel both wrote Mazurkas: Debussy's is a stand-alone piece, and Ravel's is part of a suite of pieces known as La Parade, an early work which is not very well known.

The Mazurka is an important dance in many Russian novels.

Marzurkas are also played in the music of Donegal, Ireland see Donegal fiddle tradition

Media

Mazurka by Claude Debussy (file info) — play in browser (beta) Claude Debussy's Mazurka Mazurka by Aaron Morgan (file info) — play in browser (beta) Mazurka, from the Library of Congress' California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collection;