Auden, Wystan Hugh: Brief an Henze, Hans Werner. Kirchstetten (Westbahn), Mittwoch, 20. Oktober 1965
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/)

Okt 20ten 1965 [The dating of the year is derived from the fact that this letter contains answers and comments to Henze's letter of 6 October 1965 regarding The Bassarids.]

Dearest Hans:

Many thanks for your letter. I write in haste as I am off to-morrow for London and in ten days to New York,(Chester intends to winter in Wien), [Auden had already told Henze about his trip in his previous letter.]so can only answer a few of the points you raise.

Die Bassariden. I assure you that the word exists – literal meaning,wearers of fox-skins,hence, all followers,male or female,of Dyonysus. If you don’t believe me,ask Professor Bruno Snell of Hamburg University,the leading German Greek Scholar. Euripides doesn’t use it because, his chorus are all women. [Regarding the much-discussed choice of the title The Bassarids, the meaning of which may not be easily understood, see the introduction to the correspondence.]

An Article about the genesis of the Opera [Here, Auden is referring to the request Henze made in his letter of October 6, 1965.]. I am very much against trying to state a myth in abstract logical terms,which rob it of all its resonance,eg, if one starts talking about recent history,one will have fools saying that Dionysus is Hitler. What can, I think,be written,and Chester and I would gladly write, is a technical piece,explaining what had to be done in order to turn Euripides’ tragedy into an opera libretto,eg, the uninstructed imagine that what makes his play settable are the choruses,when in fact,it is precisely with the chorus that one has to be sparing or else the thing turns into oratorio. Then,the question of differentiating the characters, und so weiter . [The two authors wrote a text, later published in the Festspiele programme entitled Warum ein Meisterwerk neu schreiben?, which deals precisely with the issues outlined here.]

For the Programme

I enclose what I think the audience should learn before the curtain rises. [No attachment was kept together with this letter. It was probably separated from this one and could be preserved among the textual materials in the Henze Collection at the Paul Sacher Foundation.]

Philippo Saintjust was here yesterday and showed us sketches which we think absolutely perfect. My,what an intelligent man he is!

[See Henze's previous letter]

We are puzzled at your sayingx Pentheus is on stage s inging in drag for twenty minutes. [See Henze's letter on 6 October 1965.] Surely,this cannot be so,since,from,his entrance in drag till his exit,there is only a page and a quarter of text, none of it arioso.

How I wish I could hear some of the score. Philippo tells us that Schotts think it your best so far.

lots of love
Wystan