he glorious epochs of
history, with the sweet or sad memories which it calls up, and
are a faithful expression of the character and manners of the
nation.

Casimir Brodzinski describes the dance as follows:--

The krakowiak resembles in its figures a simplified polonaise;
it represents, compared with the latter, a less advanced
social state. The boldest and strongest takes the position of
leader and conducts the dance; he sings, the others join in
chorus; he dances, they imitate him. Often also the krakowiak
represents, in a kind of little ballet, the simple course of a
love-affair: one sees a couple of young people place
themselves before the orchestra; the young man looks proud,
presumptuous, preoccupied with his costume and beauty. Before
long he becomes meditative, and seeks inspiration to improvise
verses which the cries of his companions ask for, and which
the time beaten by them provoke, as well as the manoeuvre of
the young girl, who is impatient to dance. Arriving before the
orchestra after making a round, the dancer generally takes the
liberty of singing a refrain which makes the young girl blush;
she runs away, and it is in pursuing her that the young man
displays all his agility. At the last round it is the young
man who pretends to run away from his partner; she tries to
seize his arm, after which they dance together until the
ritornello puts an end to their pleasure.

As a technical supplement to the above, I may say that this lively
dance is in 2/4 time, and like other Polish dances has the rhythmical
peculiarity of having frequently the accent on a usually unaccented
part of the bar, especially at the end of a section or a phrase, for
instance, on the second quaver of the second and the fourth bar, thus:--

[Here, the author illustrates with a rhythm diagram consisting of a line
of notes divided in measures: 1/8 1/16 1/16 1/8 1/8 | 1/8 1/4 1/8 | 1/8
1/16 1/16 1/8 1/8 | 1/8 1/4 dot]

Chopin has only once been inspired by the krakowiak--namely, in his Op.
14, entitled Krakowiak, Grand Rondeau de Concert, a composition which
was discussed in Chapter VIII. Thus much of the krakowiak; now to the
more interesting second of the triad.

The mazurek [or mazurka], whose name comes from Mazovia, one
of our finest provinces, is the most characteristic dance-tune
--it is the model of all our new tunes. One distinguishes,
however, these latter easily from