Last time: Sun
6:00pm		 February 5, 2012
And the Rain Will Pass...
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki / Krzysztof Pastor

World premiere: 27 March 2011

Ballet by Krzysztof Pastor in 3 scenes

Music: Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
Beatus vir op. 38 psalm for baritone solo, mixed choir and grand orchestra
Quasi una fantasia op. 78 for large string orchestra
Kleines Requiem für eine Polka op. 66 for piano and 13 instruments


duration: 1 hrs 25 min., without  intermission 
 

Production and Choreography: Krzysztof Pastor
Conductor: Marta Kluczyńska
Chorus Master: Bogdan Gola
Literary Consultancy: Daniel Przastek
Arrangement   of Space  and Lighting Designer:  Bert Dalhuysen
Costume Designer: Yumiko Takeshima
Projections: Miguel Nieto
Choreographer's Assistant: Steven Etienne

 

Photo: Ewa Krasucka
Poster designed by Adam Żebrowski | photo: Magda Wunsche & Samsel | on picture: Rubi Pronk 

Polish National Ballet, Chorus and Orchestra of the Polish National Opera,
Anna Marchwińska, Ryszard Szubert (pianos)
and in Beatus vir Oleg Bryjak (barione) (24, 25, 28 Sept, 14 Oct), Adam Kruszewski (baritone) (28, 29 Jan, 4, 5 Feb)

Performances with the consent of
Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd.
Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne SA

Pictures from the reahearsals

 


Krzysztof Pastor’s ballet And the Rain Will Pass... is the his very personal artistic statement. After a long stay abroad, he noticed more scars and evidence of suffering in Warsaw than in any other city. He was inspired by images from literature and films showing traumatic moments in Polish history. Most importantly, however, once again he chose the moving and dramatic music of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. He has designed ballets to his compositions before, to Symphony No. 3 in Warsaw (1994) and Amsterdam (1996), to the Harpsichord Concerto (in the ballet Moving Rooms) in Amsterdam (2008). This time, he took Beatus vir, Quasi una fantasia, and Kleines Requiem für eine Polka. This music creates the fabric for Krzysztof Pastor’s new poetic ballet – production prepared for Polish National Ballet. The title is a phrase taken from the beautiful poem Deszcze [Rain] by Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, the poet-insurgent, a symbol of the tragic “generation of Columbuses”. The world premiere received a lot of publicity in Poland and internationally. “Tygodnik Powszechny” described Pastor’s ballet as “a reckoning with the demons of Poland’s most recent history and the ‘God and fatherland’ vision of historical politics”. 


Partner of the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera:

 

Partner of the Polish National Ballet:

 

Media patrons of the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera:

    
  		                   

 

 
                                     

 




AND THE RAIN WILL PASS...

 

Ballet by Krzysztof Pastor in three scenes

Rain is like compassion - it wipes everything away:
the blood from the battlefield, and people,
and the air petrified with fear…
                K. K. Baczyński

IN PLACE OF A SYNOPSIS

Time of Community (Beatus vir)
Looking back… there is birth, a building of unity. Divisions, differences, fears, and threats soon appear in this community. However, the community spirit watches over everything, supporting unity, restoring faith in survival. The role of men is to fight and sacrifice themselves, the fate of women - to wait in solitude…

Time of Fear (Quasi una fantasia)
Concerned and worried, the women await their husbands and sons. No one knows better than they that not all will return from the war. But time heals wounds. Optimism returns, as it did in the inter-war years. However, the joy of independence is disrupted by a violent dispute and heavy-handed government. These are also times of crisis and ethnic-related unrest. Impossible love emerges - almost like Romeo and Juliet’s in Polish reality. Meanwhile history comes full circle: there is fear, war, defeat. The spirit of hope is reborn to the sound of a Christmas carol…

Time of Misfortune (Kleines Requiem für eine Polka)
Life goes on despite enslavement, though under constant threat. Love overcomes fear, but it can also end tragically. Evil dominates and follows its own rules. The invaders’ reign of terror clips everybody’s wings. Selection for the death camps continues, culminating in a plea for a speedy death. A wild polka invokes the merry-go-round next to the Warsaw Ghetto wall that separates life from death. Yet again, the community spirit saves us from annihilation. “Rain is like compassion - it wipes everything away: the blood from the battlefield, and people, and the air petrified with fear…”

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