The composer Hans Werner Henze traveled to Cuba ten years after the end of the revolution. He met composers, writers, and artists, performed one of his own works with the Havana Symphony Orchestra, and was full of curiosity about what music and art might mean to people in this new world. For Henze, his artistic work was always concerned with nothing other than human beings and their pursuit of happiness.

During this time, the Cuban writer Miguel Barnet became a close friend. Barnet’s book THE SONG OF RACHEL was based on interviews with the variety star Rachel from the eventful era of the Cuban Republic (1902–1959). Without regret and in unflinching language, Rachel reflects on her scandalous stage life. Presidents came and went; crises, upheavals, and social revolts unfolded, but Rachel remained untouched, until eventually her theatre was closed and no audience remained. Rachel, the self-absorbed artist, always remained true to herself – and remained alone. Thus she becomes a symbol of a person who lives within a revolution, but not with it.

Based on this life story, Henze created a turbulent vaudeville in five tableaux following his disillusioned return from Cuba. The text was written by the poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger. The authors immerse themselves in the seedy world of entertainment venues, gangsters, and performers in old Havana. In what is perhaps a unique move within his oeuvre, Henze composed chansons, couplets, and dance rhythms such as waltz, rumba, tango, Charleston, and ragtime. At the same time, shifts in perspective and stylistic breaks ensure a critical view of Rachel’s illusion of a grand artistic life.

Originally conceived as a “television opera,” Henze wrote a large-scale stage version of LA CUBANA in 1975. The chamber version LA PICCOLA CUBANA for nine musicians and four vocal soloists was intended to return more closely to the character of vaudeville, but he was unable to complete it during his lifetime. It was not until 2019 that Jobst Liebrecht published PICCOLA CUBANA based on Henze’s notes. Oper Köln now presents this great work on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Hans Werner Henze’s birth.