Polonaise, Op. 89 (Beethoven) Polonaise, Op. 89 (Beethoven) The Polonaise in C major, Op. 89, by Ludwig van Beethoven is a polonaise for solo piano, published in 1815. He composed it in December 1814, at a time when the polonaise was becoming a popular dance and class marker among the European nobility. Beethoven was presented as a prominent artist at the ongoing Congress of Vienna, where he met the visiting Russian Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna. He dedicated the polonaise to the Empress, and was compensated with a sum of 50 ducats. The piece is Beethoven's first and only published standalone polonaise, and is notable as
Pavane pour une infante défunte given on 27 February 1911 in Manchester, England, conducted by Sir Henry Wood. Reviewing the concert, the critic Samuel Langford called the work "most beautiful" and added, "The piece is hardly representative of the composer, with whom elusive harmonies woven in rapid figuration are the usual medium of expression. In the "Pavane" we get normal, almost archaic harmonies, subdued expression, and a somewhat remote beauty of melody." The first gramophone recording of the "Pavane" was made in 1921 in Paris. A later recording, made in Paris in 1932 is sometimes thought to have been conducted by the composer, but was