Three Ecossaises, Op. 72, 1826

“In Warsaw, when Chopin was growing up, the social scene was extremely active, and anyone who wasn’t sick  would go to dance parties almost every night. And the star of these events was usually Chopin, because he was both a great dancer himself – and he played for all of the other dancers. He would usually improvise at one of these events . . . sitting at the piano and playing for hours, coming up with mazurkas, waltzes, and ecossaises. (pron “eh-koh-SAY”) Nobody dances ecossaises anymore, but these are the types of dances that Chopin would have improvised at a party, and if he really liked it, he’d then go home and write it down.”

—Arthur Greene