cracovians

Updated: June 16, 2025

The Cracovians dance it in a very agitated and expressive manner, singing at the same time words made for the occasion of which they multiply the stanzas and which they often improvise. Casimir Brodzinski describes the dance as follows: The krakowiak resembles in its figures a simplified polonaise; it represents, compared with the latter, a less advanced social state.

Frederick Niecks - Frederick Chopin, as a Man and Musician — Volume 2

The mazurek in its primitive form and as the common people dance is only a kind of krakowiak, only less lively and less sautillant. The agile Cracovians and the mountaineers of the Carpathians call the mazurek danced by the inhabitants of the plain but a dwarfed krakowiak.

Frederick Niecks - Frederick Chopin, as a Man and Musician — Volume 2