HARNASIE

  Harnasie, a ballet-pantomime by Karol Szymanowski, is not only the first stage piece entirely based on folklore of the Podhale region in the history of Polish music, but is also the first to combine elements of folk music with the composer’s individual style in such a perfect way. A direct inspiration for the ballet’s creation was the wedding of a local girl of the highlands Helena Gąsienica-Roj to Jerzy Rytard. Since that time, work on Harnasie was under way. The completion of the ballet in 1931 was a huge relief to the composer, who wrote to his friend Grzegorz Fitelberg in a letter: “this very moment I wrote ‘Fine’ on the last page of Harnasie and I am happy that this problem of many years is finally off my chest”. The world premiere of the work took place in Prague four years later, but it is only the Paris premiere in 1936, with Serge Lifar’s choreography and Irena Lorentowicz’s set design, that started the triumphant procession of the piece around Polish and foreign stages. The Cracovia Danza Ballet reached for this masterpiece, one of the most important Polish ballet pieces, on the 80th anniversary of the death of Karol Szymanowski. Szymanowski’s music is key to the ballet. It is the music that delineates the movement, wherein elements of both classical and contemporary dance can be traced, combined with elements of folklore and highlanders’ dance. As the performance choreographer Leszek Rembowski says, “Szymanowski’s music is undoubtedly difficult but very beautiful. It is also very danceable and vivid, giving hints, in a way, and stimulating movement. What is fantastic here is the changeability of moods and dynamics. When it comes to references to the mountain dances, I approached it in the same way Szymanowski went about his music: I don’t quote it literally but I try to extract a certain essence.”