# Masterpiece Theatre: Part Nine - Szymanowski's Harnasie



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Masterpiece Theatre: Part Nine - Szymanowski's Harnasie



















Karol Szymanowski, *Harnasie* (1923-1931): ballet-pantomime in three tableaux for solo tenor, mixed chorus and orchestra, to a script by the composer and Jerzy Mieczysław Rytard, Op. 55.

Szymanowski became acquainted with highland folklore from his youngest childhood years. He was attracted to the original charm of this extraordinary culture. He wrote that


> when one understands the genuine highland passion for giving visual shape to everything that surrounds the Highlander, when one penetrates those rough, angular forms, which are as if they were carved in resistant stone, this music reveals the true nature of its staunch, tough, specifically highlander 'lyricism', the strangely 'epic' character of its calmly undulating surface, and the deeply hidden, almost theatrical 'drama' of the content that finds its expression in dance.


Traces of Podhale folklore - from very slight to easily identifiable - are found in many of Szymanowski's works: the mazurkas, String Quartet No. 2, Symphony No. 4 'Symphonie Concertante', Violin Concerto No. 2, and also in Stabat Mater, and even in the Kurpie Songs. But the most obvious inspiration of highland music is present in the ballet *Harnasie* - in direct quotes, elements borrowed from folklore, or in the composer's own motifs and phrases.

Szymanowski's first impulse to think about creating such a piece came from contact with the music of Stravinsky in 1912. The ballets *The Firebird*, *Petrushka* and *Le Sacre du Printemps* were well-known by then. In 1913 Stravinsky himself presented his *Wedding* to Szymanowski in London. Finally, his contacts with Diaghilev's famous Ballets Russes prompted Szymanowski into more concrete action, and in 1922 he was in Zakopane collecting the first material for his ballet.

In 1923, a female highlander friend of Szymanowski's - Helena Gąsienica-Roj - was married to Jerzy Rytard. Szymanowski was the best man and performed all the duties linked to that role, such as inviting the guests to the wedding on the eve of the marriage, including drinking vodka at each invited person's home. The idea for his ballet finally crystallized at the Rytards' wedding. The Rytards took care of the script, developing the composer's detailed plan. Work on *Harnasie* lasted eight years, and the ballet was completed in 1931.

The script of *Harnasie* is a kind of mythological generalization of highland culture - the plot is symbolic, the characters have no names, they are simply 'the Girl', 'the Shepherd', 'the Robber'. The ballet comprises three tableaux - the third one is an epilogue, and Szymanowski was unsure what its character should be. Ultimately, he expanded the final scene of tableau two ending the work, giving the dancers the opportunity to show off their skills in a spectacular third tableau. Tableau I - In the Mountain Pasture - begins with the redyk (driving the sheep). One of the girls meets a highland stranger whom she later recognizes as a harnas - a robber. He confesses his love for her. Tableau II is the Girl's wedding. At the climax of the wedding fun, the highland robbers burst in - the stranger abducts the bride. Tableau III shows the lovers in a mountain pasture deep in the mountains, among the robbers.

The great musicologist Adolf Chybiński wrote of the music in *Harnasie*:


> This small though slender score, in its piano transcription counting just 86 pages, moreover mostly flying at a rapid pace, is filled so tightly with such condensed and substantial content of such poignant and inspiring expression, born of fiery fantasy and an atmospheric painter-like hearing and seeing of the beauty of Podhale and the Tatras, that even the most receptive musical mind has to listen to this music with bated breath. There is no time here for any reflection, nor any rest for the emotions.


The ballet's world premiere took place in 1935 in Prague, and a year later the famous dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar produced *Harnasie* at the Grand Opéra in Paris. This was a huge success for the composer less than a year before his death. The Polish stage premiere took place at the Teatr Wielki in Poznań in 1938, and *Harnasie* was also produced in Warsaw in the same year. Today the work is performed as a whole or in parts, with a chorus and soloist or without. The most popular excerpts are the following scenes: "Redyk" / "Driving the Sheep", "Marsz zbójnicki" / "The Robbers' March" and "Taniec zbójnicki" / "The Robbers' Dance", "Taniec góralski" / "The Highlanders' Dance", and "Hala" / "In the Mountain Pasture". The *Dance* from *Harnasie* is also very popular, being a transcription of two fragments from the ballet for violin and piano, written by the composer and violinist Paweł Kochański.

Prepared by the Polish Music Information Center, Polish Composers' Union, January 2002.

[Article taken from Culture.pl EN | Polish culture: literature, art, film, design, language, cuisine & more!]

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One of the greatest (the greatest of them all?) Polish ballets ever composed. I remember hearing an excerpt of _Harnasie_ on Sirius XM about 13 years ago and the performance was with Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham SO (his entire Szymanowski series is first-rate) and I was floored by the music. It had this hard-edged folkiness to it mixed in with some strangeness from this composer that was rather a trademark for him. Anyway, what do you guys think of this ballet?


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

I listened to _Harnasie_ yesterday for the first time and I was very impressed, it was splendid! I appreciated very much its contrasts, inventiveness and timbral colour, as well as the atmospheres created, very varied in mood; there were also gorgeous climaxes, in particular one, with the chorus, so powerful and thrilling! Szymanowski's work reminds me the style of Stravinky's _Rite of Spring_, but also Bartók for the combination of dissonant, tense textures with traditional folk music.
The recording I listened was performed by Karol Stryja and Polish State Philharmonic, I don't have means of comparison, but it sounded very compelling to me.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Lisztianwagner said:


> I listened to _Harnasie_ yesterday for the first time and I was very impressed, it was splendid! I appreciated very much its contrasts, inventiveness and timbral colour, as well as the atmospheres created, very varied in mood; there were also gorgeous climaxes, in particular one, with the chorus, so powerful and thrilling! Szymanowski's work reminds me the style of Stravinky's _Rite of Spring_, but also Bartók for the combination of dissonant, tense textures with traditional folk music.
> The recording I listened was performed by Karol Stryja and Polish State Philharmonic, I don't have means of comparison, but it sounded very compelling to me.


One of the trademark compositional devices of Szymanowski, and bear in my mind I don't have a degree in music theory as I only know a _little_ about it, but his use of unresolved harmonic progressions gives his music a sense of unease. It's almost like water in that it changes so quickly and never does something sound definite. I hope this makes sense and you being a pianist, you might be able to explain it much better than me. His solo piano music is definitely worth your time, too. And since you love opera, for me, _King Roger_ is up there with favorites of mine such as _Bluebeard's Castle_, _Pelléas et Mélisande_, _Wozzeck_, _Der Rosenkavalier_ et. al.

_Harnasie_ comes from his last phase where his music began to incorporate folk elements in which he blended with his earlier more Impressionistic style. Quite an alluring combination!


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

Neo Romanza said:


> One of the trademark compositional devices of Szymanowski, and bear in my mind I don't have a degree in music theory as I only know a _little_ about it, but his use of unresolved harmonic progressions gives his music a sense of unease. It's almost like water in that it changes so quickly and never does something sound definite. I hope this makes sense and you being a pianist, you might be able to explain it much better than me. His solo piano music is definitely worth your time, too. And since you love opera, for me, _King Roger_ is up there with favorites of mine such as _Bluebeard's Castle_, _Pelléas et Mélisande_, _Wozzeck_, _Der Rosenkavalier_ et. al.
> 
> _Harnasie_ comes from his last phase where his music began to incorporate folk elements in which he blended with his earlier more Impressionistic style. Quite an alluring combination!


No problem, I understood what you meant; I haven't got a deep knowledge of music theory too, but a chord progression tends to resolve itself to the tonic, otherwise it creates an impression of tension or suspension, and that's true Szymanowski's work shows several passages sounding restless and changeable. Your suggestions comes at perfect timing, because I've recently got some sets of Szymanowski's solo piano music and I'm looking forward to exploring it. I'll look for _King Roger_ too, any recommendation about recordings?


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Lisztianwagner said:


> No problem, I understood what you meant; I haven't got a deep knowledge of music theory too, but a chord progression tends to resolve itself to the tonic, otherwise it creates an impression of tension or suspension, and that's true Szymanowski's work shows several passages sounding restless and changeable. Your suggestions comes at perfect timing, because I've recently got some sets of Szymanowski's solo piano music and I'm looking forward to exploring it. I'll look for _King Roger_ too, any recommendation about recordings?


You cannot go wrong with either of these two:


















I would also checkout these two recordings:


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

Neo Romanza said:


> You cannot go wrong with either of these two:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great, thank you very much!


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