Chopin saw the mazurka, a Polish national dance, as a means to express his love not only of country but of family, and to vent his feelings over the successes and failures in his romances. Unable to return to Poland for political reasons, he lived as an exile in France, where his music retained its Slavic character. In fact, many have asserted that Chopin was never more Polish than when he lived in France. This A flat major mazurka might be cited as one of the more striking examples of the composer expressing his roots: here, Chopin offers the aristocratic side of this dance, imparting much elegance and grace, and an air of proud tradition.

This piece, marked Allegretto, begins with a few introductory chords, then launches into an elegant, flowing theme whose light-footed gait is all grace and delicacy. The trio, in D flat, is robust and jaunty, proud and poised, but demurely steps aside to allow the return of the main theme to close the piece. This is one of the few mazurkas to eschew feelings of romance or longing or gloom. The mood here is bright and cheery, yet, unusual for Chopin, also somewhat detached. A typical performance of this mazurka lasts about three minutes.

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Of the piano works of Chopin, the mazurka, perhaps more than his works in other genres, allowed him to experiment with different harmonic and melodic colors, unusual rhythmic patterns, and individualized, personal expressive traits. The genre draws upon the music of the composer's native Poland, including the dance forms of the Mazur (strong, irregular accents, moderate tempo), the Kujawiak (slow, flowing tempo, singing in nature, more subtle accents), and the Oberek (strong, irregular accents, fast tempo, spontaneous in nature). Just as each dance form has its own character, it also has a specific rhythmic formula. Some of Chopin's mazurkas are references to a specific dance, but many are something of a collage, assembling elements which sound like fragments of waltzes and nocturnes. The result is a richly varied repertoire of 57 pieces, each with its own individual traits. The later mazurkas show the development of Chopin's compositional ability, as more space for expansion and development is provided in the longer pieces. Op. 50 begins with a grand and noble mazurka, rich in melodic and harmonic invention. The Aeolian mode which Chopin uses adds to a feeling of mystery and impending danger. What follows is an introspective, tender waltz, with a rhythmically stable, lighthearted middle passage. The third mazurka employs the rhythmic and characteristic traits of the Mazur, the Oberek, and the Kujawiak. In weaving the three together, Chopin uses several contrasting contrapuntal and accompanimental figures, including fugal imitation, thicker chordal textures, and waltz pattern bass lines. The piece appears to fade away, but it ends with two surprising and accented cadence chords.

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The mazurka originated in the Polish province of Mazovia, near Warsaw. In the seventeenth century, the dance began to spread beyond the boundaries of Poland. Stylized mazurkas, such as Chopin's, combine aspects of this and several other dances, but some characteristics are consistently present: an accented third beat (occasionally the second) in a 3/4 measure; the use of both the natural and raised versions of some scale degrees, particularly the fourth; and a drone bass. During the 1830s and 1840s "art" music mazurkas were very popular in drawing rooms throughout Europe.

Most of Chopin's Mazurkas are in strict ternary form, some of them actually sporting a da capo to indicate the return to the first section. Chopin's later Mazurkas are more stylized and are in many cases the testing ground for some of his most experimental ideas. Unlike other Romantic-era manifestations of "folk" music, Chopin's Mazurkas contain no actual folk tunes. He uses typical rhythms associated with Polish music, fragments of Polish melodies and Polish rhythmic and cadential formulas and combines them in an original way. Chopin borrowed sounds he found outside European "art" music and used them to create music within that tradition. Some consider Chopin's mazurkas to be the most original of his works.

Some of the melodies of the mazurkas are unusual in comparison to the melodies of European "art" music. Many of these are related to folk mazurkas in their "modular" melodies consisting of tiny rhythmic and melodic units. Also, some use cross rhythms, chromatic scales, and modes typically not found in Western music. Often, we find remote keys used as colorful excursions from the tonic.

Composed in 1842, the three Mazurkas, Op. 50, in G major, E flat major and C sharp minor, were published in 1842 in Vienna. By this time, Chopin, now involved with George Sand (Aurore Dudevant), had established his pattern of spending most of the year in seclusion in Paris and his summers in Nohant, where he wrote the Mazurkas, Op. 50.

It is typical to find the most substantial mazurka of a Chopin set in the last position, an the third of Op. 50 is no exception. Although one of the longest of Chopin's Mazurkas (six pages long, depending on the edition), it does not contain a single tedious passage. With this piece, Chopin effectively re-designs the basic concept of the mazurka. He combines folk rhythms with cultivated counterpoint, mixes modal harmonies and chromatic writing, uses ostinato to give a primitive sound to the work and push toward a climax, occasionally reduces the texture to a single line, and ends with a long and developmental coda.

Chopin rarely places learned compositional procedures on the surface of his pieces, but in the C sharp minor mazurka we find blatant examples of contrapuntal artifice. For instance, the opening is very much like a fugue, although Chopin dispenses with the alternation of tonic and dominant entries. This fugal texture increases when the main theme returns after its contrasting partner. The trio, with its insistent rhythm and rustic sound, begins with what seems like a continuous, endless phrase.

The coda, designed to close both the piece and the entire Op. 50 set, features a dramatic sequential passage. The motive from which this sequence is derived—two eighth notes followed by two quarter notes—is part of the trio's primary theme. However, the music slithers chromatically all over the tonal map before ending up on the tonic. What Chopin accomplishes with this harmonic adventure is the creation of an "exotic" sound his contemporaries would have associated with foreign music and "authentic" mazurkas. Such passages influenced Wagner's harmonic thinking.

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The three mazurkas comprising the Op. 50 set are among the more substantial ones, not simply because they are longer than most, but because their moods vary and their expressive range is broad. Though this G major mazurka is the shortest in the group, lasting about two-and-a-half minutes in a typical performance, it is no miniature alongside many of the 60 or so other mazurkas.

Marked Vivace, it is a robust, vibrant piece whose main theme is more complex than it might first sound. The melodic path here is rather broken and hesitant, but always seems to know what direction to take. The music is elegant and mostly cheerful, and even the somewhat detached middle section does not hamper the generally positive nature of the piece. The work ends quietly, though in some editions there is confusion concerning the dynamics here. Clearly the composer intended a softer, gentler close to the piece, since any playing close to forte in the closing measures would be out of place. In any event, the mood of this mazurka is hardly one of joyous abandon; rather, it strikes the ear as brightly-lit and good-natured.

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