In his polonaises Chopin takes on the tradition of a genre recently endowed with the function of national dance. Three childhood polonaises constitute a replica of the model of the functional dance, while each of the later works of this genre has its own character: lyric, dramatic or heroic. Tied into the interpretations were subjects such as the struggle for freedom, the knightly and insurgent traditions and sometimes they came to have a symbolic function in Polish history. These works were ed...