Barnet, Miguel: Brief an Henze, Hans Werner. undatiert
author: Barnet, Miguel
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Drawing of a church printed in gold.

(I.)

18 July 1982 at the latest [Barnet's message in this card was certainly written on 18 July 1982 at the latest, because on 19 July Henze wrote his letter of reply.]
Dear Hans:

I was waiting to write to you until the weekly edition of Granma would come out with a long chronicle of my trip to Europe and the Cimarrón and La Cubana on the german stage. [Here, Barnet refers to his trip to Europe in May 1982, which enabled him to see El Cimarrón and La Cubana live with Henze and Hans Magnus Enzensberger in Rostock. See Henze's Autobiography, p. 395.] But this article would not come out until the end of the week and my very good fri en d Wando Martinelli, who , by the way,comes to Cuba very often because he is the man who broke the blockade 20 years ago by bringing italian tourists to my country, is leaving tomorrow and I am taking advantage of this to give him t-his [Connecting arch from t to h added.] not-e. [Connecting arch from t to e added.] [As already noted, correspondence between Cuba and Europe was often sent and received through people taking intercontinental trips.] Any–way [Connecting arch from y to w added.] I include something that the papers have published(there is more) so that you could have a rough idea of how your name is normally in the papers here. [No newspaper clippings were found attached to the letter, but – as Henze wrote in his reply of 19 July 1982 – Barnet sent him newspaper clippings from Granma and Juventud Rebelde with this letter.] I [The overwritten letter is no longer identifiable.] received the packet in Amsterdam and I gave all the music to Leo. [Henze probably sent the packet when Barnet was in Europe in the spring of 1982. From this letter, it emerges that Barnet was also in Amsterdam. See Henze's reply on 19 July 1982.] He is very happ y, with your note and of course with the music; he is also willing to invite you to come to Cuba and perform Cimarr oón and something else with the opera, but I also spoke to Alicia because she is now the director of the Opera Th ea tre [Since 2005, the Gran Teatro de L'Avana has been named after the dancer Alicia Alonso.] and also the Ballet Company as always. She was very impressed with what I told her about Rachel also. You know she has always wanted to (2) [Barnet does not write on the page immediately next to it, i.e. on page 2 recto, because this contained the pre-printed greetings and he prefers to continue writing on page 2 verso.] to work in some pro j ect with y-ou. [Dash connecting the y to the o.] [Despite Barnet's willingness to bring Henze back to Cuba with a musical project and an official invitation, this never happened.] Hans, I have plans to operate my hernia on the 28 of jul y , have a month's rest and go to the DAAD for 3 months[^1] to see you and work on our idea, [As is more clearly deduced from Henze's reply, during their meeting Barnet and Henze had imagined a musical project based on fairy tales.] and my book on th- [Dash connecting the h to the e.]e minorities. [It is not clear which book Barnet is thinking of here. He addresses the subject of minorities among others in his 1986 lecture The African presence in Cuban culture.] Amsterdam was wonderful, really charming and poetic; a very touchy experience and an adventure for the imago . Why don’t yo u buy an apartment there? I will keep it for you in the summer. It is a really fantastic place. But your house in Marino is a total joy; peace, love and arte del mejor, [Barnet used the expression arte del mejor probably in reference to Henze's pieces of art, books and recordings of the highest quality that Henze had in La Leprara.] and what about the sweetie Coccolo and the rest of the tribe. [Coccolo was one of Henze's greyhounds that Barnet had met at La Leprara a few weeks earlier.] I really had a pleasant time there and seeing you again was like touching a dream with m y fingers. I cannotdescribe to you what I felt when I saw you at the Marino station waiting for me. It was a sol i d feeling of fr ie ndship and love. Give a kiss to Fausto and Yoichi, and also to Coccolo. Remember I will see you soon again. Rogelio came last week and it was like always; very happy feeling and very sad at the mean time. He was like a kid wi th his T-shirts and his candies. We rewrote the le t ter and I signed it for you. [Perhaps Henze had sent messages for other Cuban friends that needed to be transcribed and signed.] He is taking it to the right place. OK, brother, meet Wando, you will (3) [Due to the lack of space on the back of page, Barnet is forced to use the front of page 2, which contains the pre-printed greeting.] love him. He is a member of the A libbi or whatever the name of that place is, [Perhaps Barnet wanted to mention the ARCI, of which Martinelli was a member and also founder of the association in Cuba. See Vando Martinelli a Cuba: una vita da romanzo.] you know, and also of the Communist Party. ¡ Eureka!

[^1: Barnet’s trip to Germany with the DAAD scholarship was originally planned for June or July until September 1982, as Barnet writes in his letter. Evidently, it was postponed by of his hernia operation. See also Henze's letter of 19 July 1982. However, a later letter from Barnet informs that his trip to Europe in the second half of 1982 would not take place. Barnet's name is indeed not on the list of 1982 DAAD scholarship recipients. See DAAD Jahrbuch.]

The mini-sculpture I am sending to you belongs to the enchanted hands of the most famous Cellini of the tropics, my friend [Barnet is writing on a pre-printed card with New Year's greetings for 1982. Here the greeting card contains the logo and pre-printed message.] Oswaldo Castilla , [See Henze's reaction to Barnet's present in his reply on 19 July 1982.] Wando could tell you about more but this comes from my heart and my possibilities

A big hug,
Miguel Barnet