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What is the qualitative difference between a polonaise and a mazurka?

April 26, 2017Classical difference entertainment Music polonaise qualitative

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What is the qualitative difference between a polonaise and a mazurka?

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Mazurka (Mazurek in Polish): A fast stylised Polish dance in 3/4 with a decorated first beat (often a dotted quaver/eighth note followed by a semiquaver/sixteenth note), two following crochets/quarter notes and an accented third (or sometimes second) beat. Polonaise (Polonez in Polish): A slowish Polish dance (quite a bit slower than a mazurka) in 3/4. Typically, a polonaise will have an underlying rhythm of one quaver/eighth note and two semiquavers/sixteenth notes on the first beat, followed by the second and third beats being also broken up into quaver/eighth notes. In contrast to the mazurka, the accented beat in a polonaise is firmly on the first beat of the bar.