Letter from W. H. Auden to H. W. Henze, December 21, 1964

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[Manuscript]

77 St Mark’s Place
New York City 3
N.Y. 1000 3

Dec 21st 64‡

P.P.S. If you’ve a moment to
spare, do look up my brother John
who is in Rome at the moment.
c/o Land and Water Division. F.A.O.‡ of
the U. N.‡ *. Via Terme‡ delle
Terme di Carac[-]
alla.
He is very nice

Dearest Hans:

Just a hasty line to let you know
that Curtis-Brown despatched telegram
to Schott yesterday signed by Chester and me,
(though Chester is in Vienna) expressing our
disapproval.*

I’will write synopsis soon*

Sorry to hear about all your headaches. Those
singler‡singers simply blood[y] well must learn
their roles in English and German.*

Life here for me is chaste, but I can
look forward to resuming in the summer the
relation described over-leaf.* (Or have I
already shown it you[sic]‡? I’m getting so
absent-minded).

Arcifanfano that Goldoni-Dittersdorf
opera buffa which Chester and I translated has
been done at last and was great fun.*

much love and all the best for Christmas and New Year
Wystan

P.S. What happened to your Castel Gandolfo place?*

Glad *

Hugerl,for a decade nowMy bed-visitor, An unexpected blessingIn a lucky life,For how much and how oftenYou have made me glad. Glad that I know we enjoyMutual pleasure:Women may cog their lovers With a feigned passion,But males are so constructedWe cannot deceive. Glad our worlds of enchantmentAre so s everalxxxxxxxx‡ severalNeither is tempted to broach:I cannot tell aJaguar from a Bentley,And you never read. Glad for that while when you stole(You burgled me too),And were caught and put inside:Both learned a lesson,But for which we well might stillBe Strich and Freier.* Glad,though,we began that way,That our life-paths crossed,Like characters in Hardy,At a moment whenYou were in need of moneyAnd I wanted sex. How is it now between us?Love? Love is far tooTattered a word. A romanceIn full fig it ain’t,Nor a naked letch either:Let me say we fadge, And how much I like ChristaWho loves you but knows,Good girl,when not to be there.I can’t imagineA kinder set-up: if mimsMump,es ist mir Wurscht*.

Editorial

Responsibilities

Editor(s)
Elena Minetti
Transcription
Elena Minetti; Joachim Veit

Tradition

  • Text Source: Basel (Schweiz), Paul Sacher Stiftung (CH-Bps), Sammlung Hans Werner Henze, Abteilung: Korrespondenz
    Shelf mark: Auden, Wystan Hugh

    Physical Description

    • Document type: Letter

      • Material

    • Weißes Papier
    • Wasserzeichnen: “Artesia Bond”
    • Faltung: 1mal längs, 3mal quer

      • Extent

    • 1 folio
    • 2 written pages
    • Dimensions: 280x216 [mm] (HxW)

      • Condition

    • Gelocht.
      •

      Layout

    • Auf der Rückseite des Blattes steht zentriert das Gedicht von Auden: “Glad”
    • Rand: 3,5cm
    • Eingerückte Absätze

Writing styles

Text Constitution

Commentary

  • 1.
    "F.A.O."abbreviation of "Food and Agriculture Organization".
  • 2.
    "U. N."abbreviation of "United Nations".
  • 3.
    "… the U. N. United Nations"Auden’s brother, the geologist John Bicknell Auden, worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from 1960 to 1970.
  • 4.
    "… Vienna ) expressing our disapproval."Auden refers here to a disagreement between the librettists and Helmut Reinold regarding the translation of the libretto of The Bassarids from English to German. See also Auden’s previous letter. Correspondence between Henze and Reinold kept at the Paul Sacher Foundation may offer elucidation in this regard.
  • 5.
    "… I'will write synopsis soon"This is most likely the synopsis of The Bassarids published at the beginning of the score with the title “Synopsis of the Action” and probably also printed in the program notes of the premiere.
  • 6.
    "… roles in English and German."Perhaps the term headache is used here figuratively to indicate the discomfort the translation of the libretto was bringing to Henze. It is unclear why the singers had to learn their parts in both English and German. The premiere of The Bassarids, in Salzburg on 6 August 1966, was in German, while the English-language premiere with the original libretto was held in Santa Fe on 7 September 1968, with Henze as conductor.
  • 7.
    "… summer the relation described over-leaf."Written on the back of the paper is the poem “Glad” in which Auden talks about his nocturnal encounters with his lover in Kirchstetten.
  • 8.
    "… last and was great fun."Auden and Kallman translated Carlo Goldoni’s libretto (1759) of Arcifanfano Re de’ matti, “dramma comico per musica in tre atti” from Italian to English. Their translation for Dittersdorf’s opera was first presented in New York City, on 11 November 1964.
  • 9.
    "… to your Castel Gandolfo place?"Auden’s question probably refers to the fact that in his letter dated 26 October 1964, Henze had written that he had “almost finished changing furniture and redecorating”.
  • 10.
    "… Glad"The poem Glad was written in July 1964 and first published, posthumously, in Collected Poems (1976).
  • 11.
    Strich
    • Hustler
  • 12.
    Freier
    • Client of the same
  • 13.
    "… Be Strich and Freier ."The English translations of the German words in this poem are taken from The Complete Works of W. H. Auden: Poems, Volume II: 1940–1973, p. 943.
  • 14.
    es ist mir Wurscht
    • I couldn't care less
  • 15.
    "… es ist mir Wurscht"This is an expression in Viennese dialect.

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        By courtesy of the Estate of W. H. Auden.

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        Copyright by the Estate of W. H. Auden.

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