(''The Runaway Slave'') is a scenic vocal composition by the

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composer Hans Werner Henze, written when the composer lived in Cuba in 1969–1970. It is subtitled ''Biographie des geflohenen Sklaven Esteban Montejo'' (Biography of the runaway slave Esteban Montejo), and the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Hans Magnus Enzensberger is based on the oral autobiography related in 1963 to

Miguel Barnet --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disa ...

by Montejo, who was also a veteran of the

Cuban War of Independence The Cuban War of Independence (), fought from 1895 to 1898, was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Little War (1879–1880). The final three months ...

(1895–98).

History

In Cuba in the 19th century, Cimarrón was a term for a runaway slave. The former slave on which Henze's is based was Esteban Montejo, born in 1860; he told his story in an interview, at age 104, with the Cuban ethnologist

, who made it a documentary for ethnobiographical, social and psychological studies. Hans Magnus Enzensberger, who at the time lived in Cuba, took care of inviting Henze to Cuba; the first visit was from 21 March 1969 to 16 April. Henze met Barnet, who arranged meetings with Cuban artists and introduced him to the

Yoruba religion The Yoruba religion (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), or Isese, comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria, which comprises the majority of Oyo, Ogu ...

. Henze also met Montejo, and noted afterwards: "I had never seen a man that old. He was as tall as a tree, walked slowly and very erect; his eyes were alive; he radiated dignity; he seemed to be sure he was a historical personality." On his second visit, Barnet gave him the German edition of his documentary . Enzensberger prepared a

for Henze, based on the documentary. Henze sketched its first movement on 18 December that year. He completed the work in February 1970 at his home in Marino, Italy. He began rehearsing with Leo Brouwer, a Cuban guitarist, flutist Karlheinz Zöller, Japanese percussionist Stomu Yamashta and American singer William Pearson. The work received its premiere at the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Berlin Festival, with the composer conducting. The UK premiere was in June 1970 at the Aldeburgh Festival with the same forces, followed by a tour to festivals in Spoleto, Munich, Edinburgh, Berlin and Avignon. The Australian premiere was performed at the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

on 14 March 1976, conducted by the composer, with

Lyndon Terracini Lyndon William Terracini, OSI (born 1949), is an Australian operatic baritone and from 2009 to October 2022 artistic director of Opera Australia. Early life Terracini was born in 1949, the oldest of four children born to Shirley and Vita Terrac ...

as El Cimarrón, Geoffrey Collins (flute), Roger Glanville-Hicks (guitar), and Colin Piper (percussion).

Tableaux

The work is divided into fifteen ''tableaux'' which are essentially songs. Some scenes reflect on historical events, others on personal views of the former slave: # ''Die Welt'' (The World) # ''Der Cimarrón'' # ''Die Sklaverei'' (Slavery) # ''Die Flucht'' (Flight) # ''Der Wald'' (Forest) # ''Die Geister'' (Spirits) # ''Die falsche Freiheit'' (False Freedom) # ''Die Frauen'' (Women) # ''Die Maschinen'' (Machines) # ''Die Pfarrer'' (Clergy) # ''Der Aufstand'' (Uprising) # ''Die Schlacht von Mal Tiempo'' ( Battle of Mal Tiempo) # ''Der schlechte Sieg'' (Evil Victory) # ''Die Freundlichkeit'' (Friendliness) # ''Das Messer'' (Knife) Henze described the score as a "recital for four musicians". They consist of a

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

who portrays El Cimarrón, a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist, a

flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

and a

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, although all four musicians play percussion instruments during the work. The flautist also plays the Japanese ''

ryūteki The is a Japanese transverse '' fue'' made of bamboo. It is used in gagaku, the Shinto classical music associated with Japan's imperial court. The sound of the ''ryūteki'' is said to represent the dragons which ascend the skies between the ...

'' and the Italian ''scacciapensieri'' (

Jew's harp Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

), as well as the four conventional orchestral flutes. He made extensive vocal demands on the singer, including laughter, whistling, shouting, screaming and

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

. Henze's score features aleatoric elements, "fields" in which pitches and sounds are specified, but leaving tempo and dynamics to be determined by the performers, passages for improvisation, as well as sections in the classical manner. The traditional instruments are supplemented by Caribbean and African instruments, such as Trinidad steel drum, marimbula, log drums, octobans, temple bells, congas and bongos. Some instruments highlight the drama, such as an iron chain in No. 3.

History

Tableaux

References

Further reading