Polonaise through the White House receiving line. Sousa wrote it in 1886 at the request of President Chester A. Arthur who died before it was performed. Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin", an adaption of Alexander Pushkin's novel in poetry verse, includes a famous polonaise. The polonaise is a Polish dance and is one of the five historic national dances of Poland. The others are the Mazurka (Mazur), Kujawiak, Krakowiak and Oberek, last three being old folk dances. Polonaise originated as a peasant dance known under various names – "chodzony" ("pacer"), "chmielowy" ("hops"), "pieszy" ("walker") or "wielki" ("great"), recorded as early as the
Polonaise, Op. 89 (Beethoven) a precursor to Chopin's more well-known polonaises. The piece is marked "Alla Polacca, vivace" (as a polonaise, lively)"." After four measures, there is a brief barless passage of ascending and descending scales moving to "adagio" (slow) and then to "più presto" (faster). At the conclusion of this unusual introduction, the piece returns to the first tempo and meter, and the polonaise rhythm and main theme are introduced. The piece ends with a lengthy coda. It takes about five minutes to perform. Polonaise, Op. 89 (Beethoven) The Polonaise in C major, Op. 89, by Ludwig van Beethoven is a polonaise for