Barnet, Miguel: Brief an Henze, Hans Werner. Habana, Freitag, 15. Mai 1970
author: Barnet, Miguel
language: es
availability: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

La Habana 15 Mayo 1970
Querido Henze;

Muy urgente y con mucho nerviosismo, pues dentro de unos minutos vuelo a Oriente [The scarce biographical information on Barnet does not allow us to identify which journey eastwards he was undertaking.] y Leo está aquí, en la oficina mía, también presto a marcharse, te escribo para enviarte nuevamente todo mi corazón, aunque sea de modo tan rápido. Yo estoy bien, solo que muy preocupado por tu viaje. [Barnet is probably worried about Henze's second trip to Cuba from 6 November 1969 to 29 January 1970.] Ya te conté en la última carta [The letter to which Barnet refers has yet to be located.] mi conversación con la secretaria de Bidopia. Así, que nada nuevo en esta nota. En el próximo número de la Revista Unión sale la entrevista con Heyworth , que es brillante.[^1] Yo la traduje, ya lo sabes. Todos aquí te esperamos, Heberto, Caita, Rogelio I y II , Enrique, Carmen Valdés ... en fin, tu gran familia cubana. ¡Finally, we will hear Cimarrón ¡, el Martes 23 [The only Tuesday 23 in the year 1970 was in June.] ! Lo que es lamentable que Leo no esté presente para la audición.[^2] Pero, por otra parte, es estupendo que él viaje[^3] y te pueda trasmitir mi cariño que es muy sólido, muy grande y ya eterno.

[^1: The issue of the periodical Unión chronologically following this letter was published in June 1970 and the only text by Barnet published there is an article entitled Lenin . There is no trace of Henze's interview in the September and December issues either. Therefore, the Henze interview with Heyworth about El Cimarrón Barnet is referring to here cannot be verified.]

[^2: Brouwer could not be present at the audición as he was in Europe, in Aldeburgh, for the premiere of El Cimarrón on 22 June 1970. A collective listening of the work was probably scheduled in Cuba. Pe rhaps there were arrangements made for a recording of the rehearsal to be sent to Cuba, but this never happened. In a letter dated 6 February 1971, Barnet tries to justify why he hadn’t heard El Cimarrón yet by stating that Brouwer was unable to find a suitable recording studio to record the work, and then probably send it to Cuba. Barnet was not able to see to the work performed live until May 1982 in Rostock. See Henze's Autobiography, p. 395.]

[^3: Leo travelled to Europe: on 31 May 1970 he went to Berlin where Henze conducted his Sonogramm II at the Komische Oper and on 22 June he performed El Cimarrón in Aldeburgh. See Henze's Autobiography, p. 295.]

A big hug to Fausto,
Miguelito.

¿What about the film and Antonioni ? ¿Does it work?[^4]

[^4: Barnet may also be alluding to Antonioni’s film that Henze mentions in his Autobiography, p. 262, which Antonioni had wanted to make with Gastón Salvatore as scriptwriter about the state of the world in the wake of the events of 1968 and about the way in which these events had left their mark on, and been taken up by, left-wing intellectuals in western Europe. Barnet could also probably allude to Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point (1970). See Henze's letter to Enzensberger on 5 September 1969. See also Henze's response in his letter on 21 July 1970.]

[Barnet's graphic signature.]