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Karol Szymanowski was a successor to the Polish nationalism of Chopin, and truly was an important figure as the bridge between Chopin and twentieth-century composers including Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Gorecki, and Paderewski as a figure of international fame. He composed two sets of mazurkas: 20 Mazurkas, Op. 50 (1924-25) and Two Mazurkas, Op. 62 (1933-34), his last completed works. His mazurkas are commonly understood to have been directly inspired by Chopin’s. However, Szymanowski’s were also influenced by Poland’s postwar independence, Bartok’s nationalism, Stravinsky’s Russian Period music, and musical contacts with the Gorale and personal experiences in Zakopane, located in the Podhale region in the Tatra Mountains in the early 1920s. Among these influential factors, the music in the Podhale region was the biggest motivation and musical basis in composing a set of Mazurkas, Op. 50. Written in Zakopane in the 1920s, they show many general musical characteristics from the “highland ” mountain area and are clearer examples of nationalism than Op. 62. This document analyzes the first four mazurkas in Op. 50, favored in concert b