'The Raft of Medusa' was one of the largest scandals in music history. Henzes description of events reads as follows: "There was at the beginning of the Hamburg Radio´s concert a Sit-in with slogans against the konsumistische culture and leaflets from three different groups: the SDS-Projektgruppe Culture and Revolution, Berlin, the Hamburg Music School and the Hamburg SDS. Then, there was a poster of Che on the concert platform, which the orchestral manager tore up abruptly. The actual protagonist was therefore this enraged orchestral manager, who although knew that the poster of che Guevara was hung in honour, could not tolerate ththat although he knew, that this picture of Che Guevara was hung in his honour, could not tolerate it. Then other protestors flew a red flag in place of the Che posters. I asked the lawyer of the radio to request the flag be moved, otherwise I could not be responsible for the consequences. I didn´t let slip what the consequences would be as I showed restraint to myself." After the musicians had refused to begin the performance under red flag, the police came and took seven people away. During the scuffle the librettist was injured. Henze meanwhile had left the hall in order to find a lawyer and the performance was cancelled. It wasn´t until two years later in Vienna that the work was finally first heard. More on Henze here