of the constitution; the Oginski
Polonaise, also called the Swan's song and the Partition of Poland, a
composition without words, of the year 1793 (at the time of the second
partition), by Prince Michael Cleophas Oginski. Among the Polish
composers of the second half of the last century and the beginning of
the present whose polonaises enjoyed in their day, and partly enjoy
still, a high reputation, are especially notable Kozlowski, Kamienski,
Elsner, Deszczynski, Bracicki, Wanski, Prince Oginski, Kurpinski, and
Dobrzynski. Outside Poland the polonaise, both as an instrumental and
vocal composition, both as an independent piece and part of larger
works, had during the same period quite an extraordinary popularity.
Whether we examine the productions of the classics or those of the
inferior virtuosic and drawing-room composers, [FOOTNOTE: I should
have added "operatic composers."] everywhere we find specimens of the
polonaise. Pre-eminence among the most successful foreign cultivators of
this Polish dance has, however, been accorded to Spohr and Weber. I said
just now "this dance," but, strictly speaking, the polonaise, which has
been called a marche dansante, is not so much a dance as a figured walk,
or procession, full of gravity and a certain courtly etiquette. As
to the music of the polonaise, it is in 3/4 time, and of a moderate
movement (rather slow than quick). The flowing and more or less florid
melody has rhythmically a tendency to lean on the second crotchet and
even on the second quaver of the bar (see illustration No. 1, a and
b), and generally concludes each of its parts with one of certain
stereotyped formulas of a similar rhythmical cast (see illustration No.
2, a, b, c, and d). The usual accompaniment consists of a bass note
at the beginning of the bar followed, except at the cadences, by five
quavers, of which the first may be divided into semiquavers. Chopin,
however, emancipated himself more and more from these conventionalities
in his later poetic polonaises.

[Two music score excerpts here, labeled No. 1 and No. 2]

The polonaise [writes Brodzinski] is the only dance which
suits mature age, and is not unbecoming to persons of elevated
rank; it is the dance of kings, heroes, and even old men; it
alone suits the martial dress. It does not breathe any
passion, but seems to be only a triumphal march, an expression
of chivalrous and polite manners. A solemn gravity presides
always at the p