english 
deutsch 
français 
Work of the Week – Hans Werner Henze: La piccola Cubana
- 24 Oct 2022
In La piccola Cubana, Hans Werner Henze tells a turbulent story of vaudeville singer Rachel during a time of radical social transformation in pre-revolutionary Cuba. A piece with a strong personal connection, Henze aimed to involve smaller ensembles, hence the title “La piccola Cubana”. Originally a television opera with texts by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Jobst Liebrecht arranged this work for chamber ensemble ten years after the death of Henze. The premiere takes place at the Berlin State Opera performed by members of the Staatskapelle under the baton of Adrian Heger.
In 1969 the writer Miguel Barnet published his novel Rachel’s Song, a fictional eye-witness account of the shifting social situation in Cuba. Tivoli and circus stages form the basis for Rachel’s narratives, combining memory and illusion. For the composer, Hans Werner Henze, who has travelled Cuba, the country was a place of magical appeal that inspired him politically and artistically.
Posthumous World Premiere:
La piccola Cubana by Hans Werner Henze
La piccola Cubana is a thought-provoking juxtaposition of two eras of time and two forms of theatre: the spoken plot, consisting of a prologue, an epilogue and four intermezzos, is interspersed with five sung tableaux. Starting on the day of Fidel Castro’s accession to power in Cuba, 1 January 1959, the ageing Vaudeville artist Rachel is recalling the stages of her earlier life to her maid Ofelia. The five musical tableaux illustrate these memories and introduce figures who have accompanied Rachel through different phases of her life. Each phase is linked to romantic affairs with different partners whilst simultaneously being associated with radical political and social upheaval rocking Cuba.
The fifth tableaux culminates in the closure of the Teatro Alhambra in 1934, the end of Rachel’s stage career and the end of her artistic phase. This is closely interlinked with the rise of Fulgencio Batista who was appointed as the new president of Cuba, essentially the installation of a military dictatorship which was later unseated by Fidel Castro. Rachel’s response to this “filthy brew of politics” is the paradisiacal utopia of love, music and art. Her answer to American repression is the sham world of glittering leotards, spotlights and the entertainment of variety theatre.
Henze’s colourful and comic opera raises important questions about the self-image of the arts:
“My intention was to invent and conceive a new form of music theatre. It soon became clear that the material – the memoirs of Amalia Vorg, the old Cuban queen of Vaudeville – possessed enormous potential far in excess of mere entertaining Vaudeville. It not only provides information on Cuban history during the last 50 years prior to the liberation by Fidel Castro, but also reflects the underdevelopment of a country. Viewed through the lens of a vaudeville star, we ask ourselves: what is art, how is it valued by society and what status does it possess? What are artists? What is their moral disposition and what is the nature of their social responsibility?” - Hans Werner Henze
La piccola Cubana boasts a sold out premiere but be sure to grab a ticket for a performance on October 29th or 31st or November 2nd, 4th or 6th at the Berlin State Opera.
Info Box:
La Cubana oder Ein Leben für die Kunst
Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin
