In early 1926 Szymanowski composed "Four Polish Dances" for piano. Commissioned by Oxford University Press, they were published later that year.
In early 1926 Szymanowski composed Four Polish Dances for piano. Commissioned by Oxford University Press, they were published later that year by a London publishing house in the series Folk Dances of the World. Danses populaires de tous pays. The first two pieces, Mazurka and Krakowiak, are intended for children - hence their simplicity and clarity of texture despite the use of modern consonances and original turns of melody. The other two pieces, Oberka and Polonaise, are more technically difficult. The lists of Szymanowski works published in the journals Muzyka and Muzyka Polska in 1937 showed Four Polish Dances as Op. 47.
An orchestral transcription of Dances was done by Grzegorz Fitelberg.
Author: Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska, September 2007.