Mazurka Tempo

[hohohohi888]

So I am just learning a few Chopin mazurkas, and I don't really know what's going on with the tempo.  It's not very intuitive, like falling and "sliding" at the same time.  Does anyone know good literature on this subject, ie. on how mazurkas should be played?  I feel like they are a unique group in the repertoire.

[hardy_practice]

It's more to do with accent:

'Mazurkas are song-based country dances from the plains of Mazovia, where Warsaw is located; their usual time signature is three-four or three-eight, but Chopin’s mazurkas are so irregular in their rhythm Meyerbeer thought it was two-four and Charles Halle proved to Chopin he had played one in four-four, to which Chopin, laughing, explained this was the national way of doing things.'

from: https://madamepickwickartblog.com/2011/02/chopin-and-the-unpredictable-mazurka/