Henze, Hans Werner: Brief an Auden, Wystan Hugh. Castel Gandolfo (Roma), Donnerstag, 27. August 1964
author: Henze, Hans Werner
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Mit freundlicher Genehmigung der Hans Werner Henze-Stiftung (Dr. Michael Kerstan). (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Hans Werner Henze

Castel Gandolfo (Rom)
Via dei Laghi 18

August 27, 1964
Dearest Wystan,

My letter to you with a request of a slightly accelerated reply to my proposed omissions [Henze's letter to Kallman is not located yet. The proposed omissions to which Henze alludes are probably those contained in the letter dated 6 August 1964.] had just left when yours arrived containing all the things requested. First of all I was very proud to have a letter by the master himself, and secondly I was very touched that you accepted and helped. [In Auden's letter of 16 August 1964, the two librettists requested the libretto be printed in full and provided some corrections to the libretto.] I have been in Edinburgh in the meantime to hear my hitherto best piece, Ariosi for soprano, violin, and orchestra which was played very beautifully there. [The premiere of Ariosi, conducted by Colin Davies, was held in Edinburgh on 23 August 1964.] I saw Ken Bartlett of Schotts there who said, Of course the textwhall be printed as it is and a way will be found to indicate the bits that haven't been set.[^1]

[^1: In this quote, Ken Bartlett, who at the time was director of the opera and concert section of the Schott publishing house in Mainz, refers to the possibility of printing the libretto in its entirety, i.e., even the parts that Henze did not actually set to music, as requested by the librettists in Auden's letter of 16 August 1964. In the libretto printed in the original English version, the parts of the text that Henze did not set to music are given in square brackets. In the libretto in German, however, these are not translated and are omitted altogether.]

I'm looking forward to Chester's visit [In his letter dated 11 August 1964, Kallman had told Henze that he would happily take a kind of honeymoon with Kosta to Italy at the end of September and stay at Henze's place.] (Please tell him to let me know in time when he arrives and let him take note of the fact that I will not be here in September from the 16th to the 27th, and in October from the 13th to the 20th.). [It could not be ascertained whether Kallman actually went to visit Henze at Castelgandolfo in the fall of 1964.] In Edinburgh I met Desmond Shore-Taylor who was raving about you both and about Bassy.[^2] I discovered that Ariosi contained forebodings to Bassy, exactly in the direction I'm being guided by my inner ear.

[^2: Auden consulted Desmond Shore-Taylor about the correct British pronunciation of some Greek names for The Bassarids, even if Auden’s opinion about his proposals was not positive. See Auden's letter dated 31 August 1964.]

I love you.