Auden, Wystan Hugh: Brief an Henze, Hans Werner. New York, Montag, 7. März 1960
author: Auden, Wystan Hugh
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Copyright by the Estate of W. H. Auden. By courtesy of the Estate of W. H. Auden. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

77 St Mark's Place
New York City 3
N.Y.
U.S.A.

March 7th, 1960 (?)

Dearest Hans:

Delighted to get your letter and hope you have received Chester's synopsis by now. [Here, Auden is referring to the synopsis of Elegy for Young Lovers. A document with the synopsis is kept at the Paul Sacher Foundation in the Hans Werner Henze Collection.] My dear – Piles! – how horrid and undignified for you. Hope the treatment is not too painful

Rebaptism [Here, Auden alludes to the renaming of the main character, previously known as Hinterhofer. His first name is fixed here as Gerold, but in the final libretto his name is Gregor Mittenhofer.]

I see your point about Gundolf [The name is almost illegible, it could also be Gundalf.] , though our protagonist is sure one to be respected, even as a monster. We suggest

Gerold.

Please leave Hinterhofer The name of an Austrian Electrician [A line connects Hinterhofer's name to the annotation on the left-hand side of the page.] if you possibly can. Leitner doesnt deserve to be thought of. [Here, probably Auden mentions the conductor Ferdinand Leitner, perhaps because he might have been a possible candidate for the premiere or because he had expressed his opinion about the opera.]

Translation.[^1]

[^1: The premiere of Elegy for Young Lovers took place on 20 May 1961 in Schwetzingen with the libretto translated in German. The opera with the libretto in the original language (i.e. English) was premiered on 13 July 1961 in Glyndebourne.]

Quite uncertain about the Bachmann: and what could be greater than to have a His Royal Highness as a translator.! If he falls through as anything, my brother-in-law, Michael Mann, is first-rate, and, in absolute, a professional musician (viola).[^2]

[^2: Auden suggests his brother-in-law Michael Mann as a translator. He was the brother of Erika Mann, whom Auden had married despite the homosexuality of both of them, in order to enable her to escape from Nazi Germany by means of an English passport acquired through the marriage.]

(Adress. c/o German Dept
Harvard University, Cambridge 38
Massachusetts , USA)

Much love
Wystan