Eugene Onegin - Polonaise

Although Eugene Onegin is not a ballet but an unusually intimate opera, it does include two important ball scenes - one of them Tatyana’s birthday party in her home in the country, the other a grand affair set in aristocratic St Petersburg, to which milieu Tatyana has now graduated by means of a socially favourable marriage. The tone of the high-society event is set by its opening number, a brilliant and extended Polonaise introduced by trumpet fanfares and characterised by its proudly strutting rhythms. A quieter and rather more expressive middle section usefully offsets the ceremonial festivity around it.