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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 analyses the first four mazurkas in Op. 50, favored in concert by many pianists, focusing on how Szymanowski incorporated musical features from Podhale into the mazurka, the genre from the “lowland.” The purpose of this document is to present musical folk idioms of the Tatra Mountains area, then provide deeper understanding of Szymanowski’s Mazurkas by examining relevant musical characteristics in the first four of Op. 50. Chapter one includes a biographical sketch, five important factors that were crucial influences on Szymanowski’s nationalism, and brief examination of general characteristics of authentic form and features of the mazurka. Chapter two mainly focuses on highland Podhale music in the Tatra Mountains including the Podhale region’s geography, its history as an artistic center from the late nineteenth century and four main figures in musical history of Podhale before Szymanowski, followed by musical characteristics of the Tatra Mountains region. Chapter three, the main portion of the document, concentrates on stylistic analyses of Szymanowski’s first four mazurkas, Op. 50. This chapter examines and illustrates how Szymanowski dealt with the folk elements in his mazurkas and how the characteristics of the goral music are specifically used in the pieces for piano.