Almada wrote this letter to Lalá (nickname of Maria Adelaide Burnay Soares Cardoso) on August 13, 1920. Both belonged to the ‘Five Colors Club’,* a ballet group created in 1918 on the occasion of the creation and performance of O jardim da Pierrette [The garden of Pierrette], written by Almada himself. Besides Almada and Lalá the club was formed by Tareca (nickname of Maria Madalena Moraes da Silva Amado), Zeca (Maria José Burnay Soares Cardoso) and Tatão (Maria da Conceição de Mello Breyner). The performance of O jardim da Pierrette was a decisive moment for the genesis of Almada’s poetics of ingenuity, here related to topics seen as essential to creation such as childhood, imagination and spontaneity. Almada would further develop these themes during his stay in Paris between 1919 and 1920.

 

In this letter, Almada expresses his impossible love for Tareca, who celebrated her 18th birthday that day: ‘Can you imagine, Lalá, what I do to stop thinking? Keep these things of mine save with you, for only the both of us know about them. If only SHE knew how I want to congratulate HER today! Goodbye Lalá, now I will pray to be able to cope with this little heart of mine that I like so much and that hurts me so.’ The letter also includes a poem (‘Lalá’).

 

 

* Other works from the collection of the CAM also belong to this context. See the drawings and letters with inventory numbers DP167, DP168, DP176, DP183, DP184, DP243, DP244, DP245, DP246, DP247, DP248 and DP249.

 

 

 

SAF

 

May 2010