Henze-Digital, Dokumente, Digitale Edition
author: Kallman, Chester; Auden, Wystan Hugh
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Copyright by the Estate of W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. By courtesy of the Estate of W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

1960

[^1]

[^1: It is not ascertainable who added this, then crossed it out in pencil. Perhaps one of the two authors of the letter wrote BITTE ZURÜCK so that Henze could return this letter to them. It can be assumed with some certainty that the crossing out in pencil was done by Henze later, because he made two other inscriptions on the second page using the same pencil, i.e. the date in the upper left and the question in the lower left.]

Answers to Queries

page 2 etc. regardingre the vulgar language used by Hinterhofer [In the final libretto, the poet’s name is Gregor Mittenhofer (not Hinterhofer).] and the Doctor, impotence,kidneys,laxative,stools etc.[^2]

[^2: These words refer to Doctor Wilhelm Reischmann's lines from Act I, Scene II (The Order of the Day), in which he says: Tooth decay, / Muse away; / Blood-pressure drops, / Invention stops; / Upset tum, / No images come; / Kidney infected, / Diction deflected; / Joints rheumatic, / Rhythm erratic; / Skin too dry, / Form awry; / Muscle tense, / Little sense; / Irregular stools, / Inspiration cools.]

This crude directness of diction is essential to their characters,to Hinterhofer's because he is a naughty child who makes a point of saying outrageous things, to the Doctor's because he th i nks in the language of his profession.

page 2 full of beans. means full of energy.

page 3 awry (rhymes with die) means bent or crooked.

page 8. Hinterhofer's aria,stanza I ( Among contemporary poets …) [The librettists are referring to Act I, Scene I.] See new text for revisions. I think it is right to use the actual names of real poets of the period a) because it fixes our fictional poet in a concrete historical position and b) bec au se it prevents the audience from identifying him with any one of the famous German poets who were alive in that period. However, as you will see from the text,if you feel strongly against using their real names,substitute for Georg , Rilke, Hofmannsthal ,the names Georgeous,Milksop and Huff–and–Puff respectively.[^3]

[^3: The proposed substitution did not occur in the final libretto. In Act I, Scene V (Wordly Business) the poet Gregor Mittenhofer reads some reviews that his secretary, Carolina von Kirchstetten brings him, in which he is ranked alongside other living poets who, in the final libretto, are Stefan George, Rainer Maria Rilke and Hugo von Hofmannsthal.]

page 9 Stanza III,(How tempting is a handsome page) see new text

page 10. Dialogue between Hinterhofer & Doctor. See new text.

page 1 0 Doctor's aria. see new text.

Your letter arrived yesterday. [The letter, which must have been sent by Henze in early January 1960, has yet to be located.] We are into the third Act (which will be quite short, I think.[^4]

[^4: At the beginning of the letter to which this document is attached, Auden announces that he is sending Act III as an attachment (item I on the list), while here he writes that they are working on Act III. Probably the librettists did not send the final version of the libretto for the Act III, but something else related to the Act III, such as a general structure, a plot or an outline.]

Much love to you both
Wystan

What is the difference between tolls and chimes?[^5]

[^5: This annotation was written by Henze. In the libretto of Elegy for Young Lovers, the word tolls appears 3 times and in this context means clock strikes; chime appears 18 times and means the sound of a pendulum clock, placed on the stage. See Kallman's answer to Henze's question in the letter on 13 January 1960.]