Letter from W. H. Auden to H. W. Henze, August 31, 1964

Writing styles

• 1.

  Typescript, Auden, Wystan Hugh.
• 2.

  Handwriting, Auden, Wystan Hugh, ballpoint pen (blue).

Text Constitution

• 1.

  "ru""ur" overtyped with "ru"
• 2.

  "British Pr ss re ss"sic
• 3.

  "re""ss" replaced with "re"
• 4.

  "d""o" replaced with "d"
• 5.

  Following: handwritten, ballpoint pen (blue), Auden, Wystan Hugh

Commentary

• 1.

  "N.-Ö."abbreviation of "Niederösterreich".
• 2.

  "… August 3Ist. 1964"The date has been derived from the content of the letter, particularly the poem Auden includes here, which he wrote in 1964.
• 3.

  "… we are dying to hear."Auden is most likely referring here to an article by A. K. Holland published on 25 August 1964 in the Liverpool Daily Post (Welsh Edition) with the title Velvet Tones of Richter. The article states: "Colin Davis introduced one of the commisioned Festival works last night. It was Hans Werner Henze’s Ariosi, five love poems by Tasso set for soprano (Irmgard Seegried) violin obbligato (Wolfgang Schneiderhan) and a fragmented orchestra. It is a sad, retrospective, nocturnal work, not very difficult to listen to as such works go, but abominably taxing, one would think, to sing and Miss Seefried accomplished artiste as she is, appeared to be tormented as much by the notes as by the poetic sentiments. Both she and the violinist did wonders with material that seems resistant to charm and graciousness." See A. K. Holland, Velvet Tones of Richter, p. 3.
• 4.

  "… dotty ideas about the Limey"North American slang for a British person, here used to indicate British pronunciation.
• 5.

  "… ds for an authoritative ruling."The philologist and friend of the librettists, Erich Robertson Dodds, also played a significant role in choosing the title of the opera The Bassarids, see the Introduction to the Correspondence between Hans Werner Henze, Wystan Hugh Auden and Chester Kallman.
• 6.

  "… be there to puzzle them."The issue of publishing the complete libretto of The Bassarids, even the parts not set to music by Henze, had already been discussed by the librettists in a previous letter, in response to the fact that Henze wanted to cut part of the libretto because the opera would otherwise become too long.
• 7.

  "… we have done and why."Auden may be alluding here to the "notes" in the program of the opera’s premiere, a copy of which is preserved at the Paul Sacher Foundation. The texts about the opera written by the librettists and printed in the booklet for the premiere are "Stammbaum", "Der mythologische Hintergrund", "Religiöse Einstellung der Personen" and "Zusammenfassung der Handlung" (without page numbers). See also the first (unnumbered) pages of the study score of The Bassarids, on which the same texts are printed in German and in English.
• 8.

  "… for performance in private circles"The fact that Henze could have used this poem in "private circles" would seem to suggest that Auden did not intend this poem for the public, and in fact this poem was not published until after his death.
• 9.

  "… put on The widow’s cap."The title of this poem, written by Auden in 1964, was later changed from At Grey Of Down to Aubade. It was first printed, posthumously, in Collected Poems (1976).