Auden, Wystan Hugh: Brief an Henze, Hans Werner. Berlin-Dahlem, undatiert
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/)

Berlin-Dahlem
Hubertusbaderstrasse 43[^1]

[^1: Auden lived in Hubertusbader Straße 43 in Berlin Dahlem during the winter and spring 1964-1965 as artist-in-residence of the Ford Foundation for six months (except for the month of December when he was instead in New York City), see Humphrey Carpenter, W.H. Auden. A Biography , p. 411.]

Sonntag. A Sunday in January or February 1965, at the latest Sunday, 14 February 1965.

Carissimo Maestro :

On Freitag, Feb 19th , I arrive in Rome airport from Neapel by Alitalia Flight 189, due at 12·35. At 15·50, I depart for Pisa on my way to Florenz. [No references to Auden's trip to Italy can be found in Auden's biography.]

If by any chance you should be free to pass the three hours Aufenthalt with me I should be very happy, but shall quite understand if you can’t make it.

My case came up last Wednesday in Moabit. Result: freigesprochen.[^2] What surprised my lawyer as much as me was that the chief witness, whom we had both naturally supposed was a policeman

[^2: Driving erratically on a rainy night, Auden tested positive for alcohol and was charged with drunk driving, processed and later acquitted. See Humphrey Carpenter, W. H. Auden. A Biography , pp. 411-412.]

[Continued inside the fold.]

turned out to be a seedy-looking Bursch of about 22 who, out of sheer bloodymindedness, followed me in his car for a kilometer, then went ahead and denounced me to the police. I can't believe anyone but a Kraut [A derogatory term used to refer to a German.] would do such of thing.

Hope Die Bassariden is progressing well.

Have finished translating the Mother Courage lyrics, thank God. [Auden only translated the lyrics to be sung; the spoken text was instead translated by Eric Bentley.] I think Dessau's music is very dull.

Küsse und Grüsse von deine olle Tante
Wystan