Letter from M. Barnet to H. W. Henze, February 8, 1975
Ya estamos en 1975 y todavía no me he p odido[sic]‡ quitar la nostalg‡ia
de verte en mi casa,* caminando por mi cuarto, sentados, los dos en el balcón
conversando sobre todas las cosas del mundo, y sobre todo de nuestros proyec-
tos* que veo|‡son realiax‡dad de acuerdo a tus cartas y a‡ algunas noticias, muy
pocas que me llegan o que veo en la prensa extranjera.
Los añ os[sic]‡ pasan velozmente, a veces tan rápido que no le dan tiempo a uno
a pensar demasiado,‡ cosa que es más bien beneficiosa para los espíruto‡s me-
lancólicos, como el mío. Estuve buscando entre mis cartas desordenadas la
última que tú me escribieras pero no la encontré.* Era más la urgencia en
escribirte que la curiosidad por encontrarla, así que por esa razón no pue-
do aludir a ella como hubiera sido consecuente. De todas maneras, piensa
que hoy sabado[sic]‡, hermosísimo en mi país, con un sol caliente que parece un
sol eléctrico en pleno invierno, te he vuelto a recordar y he tenido que
sentarme a la máquina en la seguridad que le estoy diciendo cosas a una
persona, quizás de las muy pocas, con las cuales he tenido una comunicació n[sic]‡
plena, diáfana y prof‡unda–‡ del corazón y de la inteligencia–‡.
Recibí el enorme trabajo tuyo sobre Rachel.* Envié una partitura al Museo de
la Música,* que dirige una gran persona y una gran revolucionaria, la compa-
ñera María Antonieta Enriquez, esposa de Carlos Rafael Rodríguez. Ella se
alegró mucho de esa d‡onación. La otra la conserva, en su casa, y como mate-
rial de estudio entre sus alumnos*
H arold[sic]‡ Gramatges, ese otro angel[sic]‡ de nues-
tro cielo.* Él de vez en cuando hace sesiones de estudio con sus amigos músicos
y en ellas han estudiado Cimarrón y ahora Rachel. De más está decirte que los
comentarios son muy elogiosos hacia tu obra y tu actitud ante la composición
y la comprensión entre los hombres.
Este año no sé si te envié algún saludo de celebración.* Si no fue así recíbelo
aquí como siempre, así como a Fausto a quien estoy l‡oco por ver. Cuentame[sic]‡ cómo
van tus proyectos, so p or‡ fin se estrena Rachel en marzo,* dónde y cómo va
a ser, yo sólo conozco la opinión del N Y Times‡ sobre la puesta en TV:*
Quisiera me enviaras con alguien o por correo los comentarios para guardarlos
como yo s‡iempre hago.* Ese es un estímulo que tengo para seguir adelante en mi
trabajo. Ahora estoy escribiendo una novela sobre la vida de un niño en un
colegio americano,USA,[sic]‡ y las contradicciones del mundo abierto de la calle en
su país y el mundo cerrado y ajeno del colegio, en las aulas, los dormitorrios[sic]‡
…‡
Es decir,‡ el verdadero choque entre dos culturas que so[sic]‡‡ oponen; los elementos
de penetración, las sutilezas del cambio de edad- ,‡ niñez-adolescencia, y la terri-
ble discriminación padecida. Mi novela se titulará La mala memoria, porq‡ue
será también|‡la memoria de lo malo.* Además, tengo otros libros ya hechos yq‡ue
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tú conoces por mis cartas anteriores.* Espero al tiempo y a la madurez general.*
Mientras tanto escribo, amo cada día más lo que está pasando en mí país, ojalá
tú vinieras para que con tus propios bjos[sic]‡ vieras cómo ya está cambiando la
fisionomía de los pueblos, los planes agrícolas, el extraordinario sistema
del Poder P opular[sic]‡ y tantas otras cosas.
Querido hermano, escríbeme pronto, mandam‡e fotos tuyas en tu casa, con t‡ us[sic]‡
perros, tus amistade‡s, Fausto, ¿‡
Tamaki[sic]‡
? y todos los demás. Y recuerda que
Miguel, no te olvida jamás, que ninguno de mis amigos deja de pensar en tí[sic]‡,
que cada vez que me encuentro a Leo conversamos de tu persona y de tu trabajo,
que eres parte importante en mi vida, como amigo y como artista. Y que en
el fondo de las razones, donde se oye un ruido misterioso del mar, como salien-
do de un gigante caracol, los hombres hacemos las cosas para comunicarnos,
para que un día dos personas se encuentren bajo una llovizna fría, y se pro-
duzca el milagro de la identificación. Entonces, solamente entonces, surgen
las obras en común, las sinfonías, los recitales, los grandes coros. Todo
lo demás, es basura, porque es el hombre en su triste soledad que a nada bue-
no conduce.
No te olvides de mí que yo siempre seré tu compañero del alma.
Miguel Barnet
It is now 1975 and I still have not been able to shake off the nostalgia of seeing you in my house, walking through my room, sitting, the two of us on the balcony talking about everything in the world, and above all about our projects that I see are a reality according to your letters and some news articles, very few that reach me or that I see in the foreign press.
The years go by quickly, sometimes so quickly that they don’t give one time to think very much, which is rather beneficial for melancholic spirits like mine. I was looking through my jumbled letters for the last one you wrote to me, but I couldn’t find it. It was more the urgency to write to you than the curiosity to find it, so for that reason I cannot allude to it as would have been proper. Anyway, just think that today, Saturday, beautiful in my country, with a hot sun that looks like an electric sun in the middle of winter, I remembered you again and I have had to sit down at the typewriter in the certainty that I’m saying things to a person, perhaps one of the very few, with whom I have had a full, clear and deep communication – of the heart and of the mind.
I received your vast work on Rachel. I sent a score to the Museo de la Música, which is run by a great person and a great revolutionary, comrade María Antonieta Enriquez, the wife of Carlos Rafael Rodríguez. She was very happy with this donation. The other one is kept in her home as study material for her students, Harold Gramatges, that other angel from our heaven. From time to time he holds study sessions with his musician friends, and they have studied Cimarrón and now Rachel in them. Needless to say, the comments are very complimentary about your work and your attitude towards composition and understanding among men.
This year I don’t know whether I sent you any holiday greetings. If not, I send them here as always, and to Fausto, whom I can’t wait to see. Tell me how your projects are going, if Rachel will finally be premiered in March, where and how it is going to be. I am only aware of the NY Times’ opinion about the TV version: I would like you to send me the reviews with someone or by mail to save them as I always do. That serves as inspiration for me to keep going with my work. I am currently writing a novel about the life of a boy in an American university in the USA, and the contradictions of the outside world of the streets in his country and the closed and foreign world of college, in the classrooms, the dormitories… In other words, the real clash between two opposing cultures; the elements of penetration, the subtleties of moving from childhood to adolescence, and the terrible discrimination suffered. My novel will be titled La mala memoria, because it will also be about bad memories. I also have other books already finished and that
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you know about from my previous letters. I await time and general maturity. In the meantime, I write, each day I love more and more what is happening in my country. I wish you could come and see with your own eyes how the physiognomy of the towns, the agricultural plans, the extraordinary system of the Poder Popular and so many other things are already changing.
Dear brother, write to me soon, send me photos of you at home, with your dogs, your friends, Fausto, Tamaki? and all the others. And remember that Miguel will never forget you. None of my friends ever stop thinking about you. Every time I see Leo we talk about you and your work. You are an important part of my life, as a friend and an artist. And at the heart of reason, where you can hear a mysterious noise from the sea, as if coming from a giant snail, men do things to communicate with each other, so that one day two people meet under a cold drizzle, and the miracle of identification takes place. Then, only then, do common works emerge, symphonies, recitals, grand choruses. Everything else is rubbish, because it is man in his sad loneliness that leads to nothing good.
Don’t forget me, I will always be your soulmate.
Miguel Barnet
Translation by Yolanda Acker
Editorial
Responsibilities
- Editor(s)
- Elena Minetti
- Transcription
- Elena Minetti; Joachim Veit
- Translation
- Yolanda Acker
Tradition
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Text Source: Basel (Schweiz), Paul Sacher Stiftung (CH-Bps), Sammlung Hans Werner Henze, Abteilung: Korrespondenz
Shelf mark: Barnet, MiguelPhysical Description
- Document type: Letter
- dünnes, beiges Papier
- Faltung: 2mal längs, 1mal quer (aber nicht mittig, sondern bei ca. 13,5 cm von links)
- 2 folios
- 2 written pages
- Dimensions: 280x215 [mm] (HxW)
- linker Rand: ca. 1,8 cm
- rechts Flattersatz bis zum Rand
- 1. Absatz 8 Anschläge eingerückt
- Rest linksbündig
- Zeilenabstand 1,5
Material
Extent
Layout
Writing styles
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1.Typescript, Barnet, Miguel.
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2.Handwriting, Barnet, Miguel, felt pen/fineliner (light blue).
Text Constitution
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"p odido"sic
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"g""f" replaced with "g"
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"|"added inline, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"a"deleted by overtyping
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"a"added above, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"añ os"sic
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","added inline, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"o""u" replaced with "o"
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"sabado"sic
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"comunicació n"sic
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"f""n" replaced with "f"
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"–""," replaced with "–"
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"–"".." replaced with "–"
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"d""n" replaced with "d"
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"H arold"sic
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"angel"sic
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"l""," replaced with "l"
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"Cuentame"sic
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"N Y Times"Underlining, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"s"added above
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"dormitorrios"sic
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"…"added inline, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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","added inline, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"so"uncertain transcription
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"so"sic
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","added below, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"q"added above
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"|"added inline, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"q"added above
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"bjos"sic
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"P opular"sic
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"m""d" replaced with "m"
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"t us"sic
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"t"added above
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"e""o" replaced with "e"
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"¿"added inline, handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
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"Tamaki"sic
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"tí"sic
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Following: handwritten, felt pen/fineliner (light blue), Barnet, Miguel
Commentary
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"… de verte en mi casa,"Henze would have liked to return to Cuba as early as 1970, but it was not possible for him. Barnet and Henze would only meet again in Italy, in May 1982.
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"… todo de nuestros proyec tos"Here, Barnet alludes to Henze’s musical projects based on Barnet’s texts, El Cimarrón and La Cubana, which he mentions later in the letter.
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"… escribieras pero no la encontré."The letter sent just before this one has not been located to date.
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"… de estudio entre sus alumnos"Although Barnet refers to "students" in the plural, he only names one: Harold Gramatges.
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"… angel de nues tro cielo."Henze had met Gramatges in Cuba. See Henze’s Autobiography, p. 258.
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"… envié algún saludo de celebración."There are no greeting cards from Barnet between 1974 and 1975 among the correspondence located to date.
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"so p or"recte "si por".
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"… estrena Rachel en marzo ," La Cubana was not staged in March 1975, but on 28 May 1975 in Munich.
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"… sobre la puesta en TV:"Barnet had probably read John O’Connor’s article "TV: An Operatic ‘Rachel, La Cubana’" of 4 March 1974 in The New York Times, p. 59.
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"… como yo s iempre hago."There are no newspaper reviews of La Cubana in the correspondence located to date.
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"… la memoria de lo malo."Barnet had already told Henze that he was writing this novel in a letter from him a little over a year earlier. As already explained there, there is no novel titled La mala memoria in Barnet’s catalogue of works. However, Heberto Padilla wrote a novella in 1989 with this title. From the summary of the novel Barnet gives in those two letters, he seems to be referring to the work La Vida Real, translated into English as A True Story: A Cuban in New York.
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[Figure Description]Abstract drawing in fine pen consisting of small geometric designs using dots, lines, triangles, rectangles, and circles distributed along an arrow.
