Many years after the composition of this work, Glazunov advised his students not to pass up the chance to write ballet and other dance music, believing that such work developed a composer's technique. His student Dmitri Shostakovich took that advice to heart and throughout most of his career accepted commissions for dance scores, writing many light pieces as a result. And of Glazunov's advice Shostakovich simply said, "He was right."

The advice must have come from Glazunov's own experience. Before the fast-developing young composer was twenty-five years old, Glazunov had written several such pieces, one of the most prominent of which is this major treatment of the mazurka, a strongly accented Polish dance brought into classical music years before by Chopin. This mazurka was written directly for concert performance; it is not connected to any dance or ballet project.

It is a brilliant scored and exciting orchestral piece, large in dimensions for such a dance at nearly ten minutes. It is one of many Glazunov orchestral works rarely heard after the end of his most popular years, yet one that is pleasant and attractive to audiences and deserves more attention.

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