Polonaise instrumentation. Polonaise The polonaise (, ; ) is a dance of Polish origin, in time. Its name is French for "Polish." The polonaise has a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin. The polonaise is a widespread dance in carnival parties. The polonaise is always a first dance at a "studniówka" ("hundred-days"), the Polish equivalent of the senior prom that occurs approximately 100 days before exams. The notation "alla polacca" ( means "polonaise") on a musical score indicates that the piece should be played with the rhythm
Polonaise-Fantaisie (Chopin) and Vladimir Horowitz had been including it in their programs some decades earlier. It is intimately indebted to the polonaise for its metre, much of its rhythm, and some of its melodic character, but the fantaisie is the operative formal paradigm (Samson, 1988), and Chopin is said to have referred initially to the piece only as a Fantasy. Parallels with the Fantaisie in F minor include the work's overall tonality, A-flat, the key of its slower middle section, B major, and the motive of the descending fourth. Jeffrey Kallberg has suggested that the Polonaise-Fantaisie represents a change in Chopin's style