Conversations about the cultural and performative context of Chopin’s Mazurkas
Matthew Bengtson, Assistant Professor of Piano Literature, Project Director
Arthur Greene, Professor of Piano
Bohuslava (Slávka) Jelínková, Lecturer of Dance
Christian Matijas-Mecca, Associate Professor of Dance
Filmed at the Duderstadt Digital Media Commons, May 2017
Quote Citations:
“The men grasped the long dress of their partner so it would not be trodden upon and lifted it high. Holding them in this cloak which brought both bodies under one cover as closely as possible against them and in this way the whirling continued in the most indecent positions. The supporting hand lay firmly on the breasts, at each movement making lustful pressures. The girls went wild and looked as though they would drop.”
Ernst Moritz Arndt, Die Ewigkeit des Volkes (Jena: Eugen Diederichs, 1934), 32, quoted in Oxford Music Online, “Waltz,” accessed June 3, 2020.