Letter from C. Kallman to H. W. Henze, January 13, 1960

[Typescript]

Jan I3th 60 ‡ ‡
Lieber Hansel[sic] ‡ -- ‡ Bitte zurück ‡

By now you’ve gotten all the copy* and Wystan’s notes, so I’ll add a few of my own,
starting with some of your questions in your letter. *

Wystan has explained "chimes" *; it only remains to say that the other bells also act as
scene chanersxxxxxxx ‡ changers on occasion, as does the train whistle, but the clock "chime" is
always closely associated with Hinterhofer.* I suppose backstage is a good place to have
an on-stage clock "sound" -- but where it does[sic] ‡ is up to you: from the orchestra is
probably just as good.(maybe better, – since its[sic] ‡ a "formal" not a naturalistic device).‡

In Act I, page 6, the entrance of Hinter and Lizzie * is meant to be to music, a flourish
and a recitative leading to Hulda’s vision. * The last spoken word there is Caroline’s
"today."

Now I’ll run through the script and try to indicate some of our "musical" ideas.*

Act one:

Hulda’s opening recitative is conceived as a free semi-lyric p ie ‡ce somewhat in the
manner of Lucia’s "Il dolce suono" at the opening of her mad scene.* Very beautiful
and nostalgic, and here with an undertone of her delicious memories of losing her
virginity, and a giddy antici pa ‡tion of getting fucked again. Perhaps the recit. and
the whole opera might be "preluded" by three chimes, rather like the three whacks of
the cane that preceed[sic] ‡ French Classical Dramas.

Her two lines about "Each to his knitting" are spoken.

Your treatment, formally, of the scherzo and trio is entirely your affair;
but the important thing is the sense of bustle und fuss. The slower sections, such as
Caroline and the Doc discussing her illness, should possibly play the same role
that the "trio" (Not the trio mentionn ‡ed above) plays in the scherzo of the
classical symphonies.

page 6, from Car’s "Oh dear, what a morning" until her "Today" is meant to be spoken.

Hulda’s stanza in her "vision" is an adaptation of Felice Romani’s stanza in the
mad scene of Anna Bolena *, and the music for it should perhaps suggest the nineteenth
century operatic tradition, to which Hulda, with her time suspension of forty years,
is presumably "attached".

The little sextet interlude, I hear as piano and staccato with Hulda "floating"
above the ensemble. Maybe Hinty too. The sextet begins with Hint’s "quiet", but
the ense‡mble begins with Caroline ’s "Quiet"--that is to say, Hint ’s phrase is meant|‡to
to[sic] ‡ lead into it, and his solo phrase "Read me runes" ends it, and introduces the
middle section of Hulda’s vision. But I think that’s all quite clear in the
script. And Toni’s exit line must naturally follow his father’s* "Won’t you go?" in
the ense‡mble itself. (By the way, I hope you have this page, we found it was mislaid
in our copy of the script.)

Hulda’s next bit--"I gave her laurel" is meant to be allegro, folk-songsy, Elizabethan.
The Falala’s can serve for vocalising on.

The last word of her scene "snow" was designed with a nice open vowel for a "mad
scene" cadenza, if you wished to have it.

Naturally[,] vary the music in the "reprise" of Hinty’s "aria" (the sections in
between the stanzas are also meant to be su n ‡g, semy-recit maybe, but that’s your
decision) for the stanza form is the same, the matter is quite varied.

page 9, Hint’s "Get up" until "A nice way to start the mroning[sic] ‡ ‡" are meant to be
spoken.

2)

The Doctor ’s two lines before the Lullaby are meant to be s p ‡oken, but the last
phrase** "How do you feel?" might serve as a recit introduction to his Ninna-nanna.
‡
After this, the whole scene down to Mauer’s "Him--Mister Mack, the long-lost
husband" * is meant to be spoken, Mauer against music, as befits his role throughout
the opera as a messenger of the Fates. Caroline’s remarks during the scene might
be semi-recit, though, to give the sequence more variety, and to lead more naturally
into the duettino that begins "Who is to tell her?" which is, after all, very secco
and would have to almost verge on semi-recit, if its low emotional temperature is
not to be violated. i[sic] ‡t should, however, be musically "formalised", I imagine.

The next bit, from Mauer’s "Tell Mister Hinterhofer" down to Eliz’s "You must
listen" is meant to be spoken, Mauer--come sempre ** to music. Though the last line
before the duo beginning "Forty years", that is the brief interchange between Hulda
and Eliz could well be recit intro to the duo. Come vuoi .

The first part of the duet should mount in intensity up to Hulda’s semi-hysterical
warning "I beg you, flee, my child" Hulda’s mood rises from cautioning Eliz to
this, and the fear in her voice should get stronger and stronger. Eliz of course
remains calm through all this, because she is trying to keep Hulda calm. The
second half, the canon intrduced by Eliz must be as beautiful as "Mira, O Norma" *.
The audience must weep with sympathy.

From Hulda’s "How late it is" to Hint’s "Eh, Toni" is spoken.

The Cabaletta, Cavatina Finale we’ve already written about.*

Act two

In this act you have spoken bits typed in red, so I’ll omit all references to
them. None of these bits, however, Must *‡ *,do‡ its best‡ be spoken (except for Mauer’s0 ‡. As I’ve
indicated in the notes on the first act, many of the dialogue sections(especially[sic] ‡
just before a "number") could well be recit. On the whole, though, since there is
spoken dialogue, I do feel that recit should be kept to|‡ ‡an absolute minimum.
I’ll write more about this when I come to specific points in this act, especially
bits which I gather from your letter, you conceive at present as being recit.

I don’t think there’s much to say about the first II* pages, the action and
emotional tone are quite obvious. Elizabth[sic] ‡ ’s "Recitative" on page 6, though, you
might want to make into a more "lyric" rage to lead into and contrast with the
Scherzo, where the "lighter" emo‡tional tone is necessarily set by Hinterhofer.

Elizabeth’s "Arietta" on page I2, I hear like a Hugo Wolf song, a concentrated
tonal sound. You know what I mean--fabulous shifts of key suddenly throwing a word
or phrase into poignant emphasis. How I go on!

If you find Toni’s "Questa donna conescete[sic] ‡" * bit on page i4[sic] ‡ too long, by the
way, you can cut the five lines after "afraid of him?" and go from there
straight to the final "Tell them! Tell them!"

Now--and this is very important--Hinterhofer’s stuff beginning "One moment, Toni"
up to his "Or remain the Muse" ‡ (sufficiently cut, I hope) Must be very warm and
lyrical, Hans Sachs at his most tender and "human." * Not recitative. The old boy
is putting on a terrific act of sympathy, he’s displaying a "great heart" that he
--as we know-- doesn’t have; and its[sic] ‡ got to be a convincing act to those present
and to the audience, otherwise the full monstrosity of his charachter[sic] ‡, the real
power he possesses to convince and manipulate, will not emerge. So. like I say,
it must all be very warmly lyrical in this scene, round rich bass-baritone phrases:
" Wie[sic] ‡ duftet doch die[sic] ‡ Flieder"* stuff. Everyone must think him such a wonde‡rful generous
old man.

3)

All this hot choc o ‡colate[sic] ‡ begins, naturally, after he’s called them to order with his
first line.

the following scene (after Eliz’s "Leave me alone") you wanted shorter, leading to an
agitated stretto. Well, some of Hinty’s material has been out--though admittedly not
very much--but I must say I already had conceived as the quartetto following
his "remain the Muse" as being just what you requested--a stretto. Toni begins it with
his anguished cry of "Elizabeth, no..." and he becomes increasingly urgent and almost
desperate by the close. His father’s pleas with Elizabeth are also done with rising
desperation. Hinty j oi ‡ns the ensemble about the same time (maybe actually earlier than
Doc) and is calm and measured-- a good way, I thought, of both accenting the agitation
of the other two men *, and providing a musical line to the "bass" * (like Rigoletto
provides to the "flirtation" giddiness in t ‡hat Quartet*. And Caroline (the only
woman’s voice there)comes[sic] ‡ in last for the final dramatic comment, and (if you would)
to contribute tellingly to the musical resolution. Lots of noise and agitation. or
else Elizabeth’s "breakdown" just before Hulda is heard, doesn’t make sense. Anyway,
I hope you’ll see my point, especially since I’m certain that any spoken dialogue at
this point will enormously detract from the effect of Hulda’s off stage interruption
and her onstage appearance. (By the way, the last line of the stage direction
preceeding[sic] ‡ her first words, should read "takes" ‡ in the embar[r]assed etc. Not "talks in")

Hulda’s scene. Giddy, of course. I also should like to point out that the first
bit is done in an adaption of the "Romani" stanza used for her first act vision; the
second part, beginning with Hinty ’s "Then if Frau Mack will excuse us" down to
Hulda’s "This time I get ten-percent or I sue", is done in the same rhyth rhyth[sic] ‡ as her
end of First act Cabaletta.* To preserve this rhythm, if you wish to, there should be
no pa u ‡ses between one person speaking and the next person[’]s reply. The third part of
this scene (Beginning with Four of them singing at once --Toni’s "Elizabeth, I beg"
etc.--) is written in a "version" of the opening section o f ‡ the stanza used in the
Elizabeth-Hulda duet in Act one. There Elizabeth helped Hulda , H[sic] ‡ere Hulda is trying
to return the favor. Anyway, these three "formal" commentaries helped us point up
in another way the contrast between the Hulda of this act with the Hulda of the first.
You might possibly care to use musical mea‡ns‡ (var ia ‡tions of some of her Act I music)
to parallel the text’s poetic artif i ‡ces[sic] ‡. Just a suggestion. (The third section of the
above, by the way, ends with the little Quintet ending with Hinty’s "Yes, and for all
time.")

Originally, the brief bit from Eliz’s "Doctor, I realize" down to Hint’s "Admit your
reasons were inept" * was in the same stanza form used by Hinty earlier in the scene.
The cuts as a "link" with the earlier material on pages I5[sic] ‡ & I6[sic] ‡. Here though, the
monster uses a "lighter" form of persuasion, he is trying to "kid" P a ‡pa out of
his objections, but the phoney[sic] ‡ warmth should still underline his spurious lightness.

The "Poem" scene. This, of course, is not meant to be the poem itself, but his descript-
tion of it. Hinty, you will notice, does not refer to it as an Elegy although it is to
be presumed he is writing it as such. For he jx ‡ "knows" , as we do, from Hulda’s
first act visions that the imageryxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ‡ upon which the images and ideas of his poem have
been based, that the lovers are "sacrificed" to the old gods. Yet, though he doesn’t
use the word, the music must be elegiac, it should state what he deliberately omits.
The other people enter one by one echoing a phrase in Hinty’s "recitation". That, I
think, is clear from the text. Caroline, though, will have no part of it; she is
doing her best to maintain her own cracking discipline. Hulda, you notice, is
wafted back momentarily to her old visionary madness by the phrase‡ "The snow falls"
and is frightened into rejecting any memories of that period.--You are probably right
about the combination of song and speech; so I think your idea of HIN ‡TY’s parlando
is best. And Caroline’s couplet at the end might be parlando too, bringing the sextet
to a close and "announcing" the next bit. Anyway, organize the sestet[sic] ‡ as you will--

4
‡
though the "echoes" obviously must be kept, and doxx ‡ I also think that it must never
rise above piano, an even seductive elegiac whisper, that only Caroline’s stringent
comment at the close, disturb. It is in this ensemble that the rest are lured
into taking positions in spite of their own qualms about them. -- A ‡ poisonous
lovely piano. The Doctor’s blessing might take place in coda to the sextet and
the chime[s] form part of the music here instead of merely ending it. Part of the
music after the singing, naturally. It being in the music, would rather symbolize
‡ Caroline’s words about their "forgetting the hour." And in the body of the ensemble
the Ah and O [sic] ‡ and even Elizabeth’s s ‡o could possibly be used to vocalize on for
a bit, thus rendering other people’s words more understandable for that bit. Just
an idea.

From this point on I consider the act finale. Mauer[sic] ‡’s weather report, Hinty’s rage
and Hulda’s re-entrance (more on that later) is merely a three part, three surprise,
three shoc k ‡ coda. But let’s go back To[sic] ‡ Toni’s "Thank you father" for the time being.
From the comparative emotional seriousness of the first few lines, I hear a music
getting gradually lighter and fa st ‡er. Hinty is being "cute". Everything should trip
along like Offenbach or J. Strauss building up towards a "gay" finale. So you see,
not much time or weight is required. This goes up to Hinty’s "A symbol, shall we say" *
His request, still lightly made, but with a "throb" of "sincerity" in his tones,
might perhaps be spoken to music. He is using there the alliterative line associated
with the HAmmerhorn[sic] ‡ [sic] ‡ and Mauer . The back to singing with "Remain here one more day".
Then the terzetto (Only four short lines really) and then right back to the
Offenbach-Strauss mood and pace of the earlier section, climaxing with Hulda’s
"I decry it." Hinty’s two lines, slackening the pace, are the introduction to
the finale proper, rather like Riccardo’s "E tu mi porti l’abito d’un pescator"
"introducing" the first scene finale in ballo.* And what follows here should also be
like that finale, very gay, but with serious undertones done with "color" in|‡some‡
parts rather than with any slackening of pace. As you can see in the text, this
"tomorrow" number* builds up twice from solo voices to a tutti, builds up in two
different ways and to two different climaxes, and all very briefly. If it’s cut, this
build-up will disappear and it will serve no function at all; and its dramatic-musical
function is two-fold --to climax and to decei v ‡e. As for the first: All the fore-going
scene, with its revelations, arguments, persuasions, reconciliations and disposals,
seems to me to demand a resolution; and the kind of nineteenth-century-mad-scene
frame we have given the first act, would rather indicate a good nineteenth-century-ish
finale for the sec o ‡nd, if the work is not to become too stylistically disj oi ‡nted --
in spite of the variety of action we have, or perhaps even because of it. Well, we
come to this "finale". There are, of course, unreconciled elements in the drama--
Caroline is sour, the Doctor is gloomy. But audiences like to forget the discordant
elements, they’ll want to bask in the conciliation and joy-in-tomorrow, even though
the non-conciliated twice stop the finale from g ai ‡ ning its natural momentum: The
Doctor breaks in first, spoke n ‡, Hinty speaks back--then we’re off again-- Then there’s
the spoken exchange between Caroline and the Master-- and then we really can whirl
away. Even the chimes which herald these two interruptions, and should be grim
reminders of the day’s unmet duties and obligations, become, in the momentum, part
of time sw‡eeping on to that tomorrow they are all singing about (And which we know
will mean desaster[sic] ‡ for many). Its[sic] ‡ all musically and dramatically natural, the audience
reaches for its shoes, looks up for the curtain; the characters disperse. Then
there’s instead I) Tomorrow’s weather report and Hinty’s lie about the Edelweiss 20xx ‡
2) Hinty’s rage 3) Hulda : All surprises. And the i ‡r full effect, I’m sure, can
only be felt after a full-fledged, though brief, pseudo-finale. I hope you’ll agree.

But then, you would like Hinty to bring the curtain down. I think this [is]a mistake for
a number of reasons. I) Since the second act curtain went up on the same character
that was on stage when the first act curtain fell, I should like this device repeated
for the end-of-second-act, beginning of third-act-curtains (& remember that Toni[sic] ‡ and

3)

Elizabeth, though unseen, are presumably on the back curxxx ‡ terrace at the end of the
second act). This gives the opera a visual "flow" which I feel intrinsic to
our adaption of the Noh technique.* It is only when we shift to the Hammerhorn
that this continuity is stopped, and there Caroline even announces "A cha ng ‡e of
scene." Also, the death scene is in the nature of a parenthesis: When it is
over we come back to Hinty & Caroline. 2) Since Hinterhofer gets the final
curtain of the opera, I thought it more effective to "rob" him of this one. In
other words, the curtain is properly his when he has finished his "Elegy" * and
disposed of everyone and ev e‡rything to his satisfaction. 30xx ‡ 3) I really think
that unclimaxed rage (putting the ink-pot down instead of throwing it) is somehow
more sinister. For one thing, flung objects are always a bit comic on stage, and
for another, when he does, so to speak, "‡fling the inkpot"‡, is when he lies to
Mauer in the Third Act. And there, the noise of breaking we are led to expect in|‡the‡
second act, has its horrifying echo in the dull thud of Caroline knocking an objet[sic] ‡
off the table. 3)* His rage and lie will make the audience apprehensive enough;
Caxx ‡ Hulda’s interruption will both relieve their tension and pu z ‡zle them. Maybe
things will be all ‡right‡, they wonder, or--maybe not. 4) This "ambiguous"
curtain joins together the two elements--Hinty’s dishonesties and Hulda’s
mockeries--that have dominated the last half of the act. It is important to
remember that they represent Elizabeth’s two real choices for the future (Toni
is an ignis fatuus *): to adjust her life to the man she finds attractive, to
accept his limitations as a man and therefor[sic] ‡ the limitations her life will have
in sharing it with his, or[sic] ‡ to laugh at them all (as Hulda advised her) and leave
at once to find a new life for herself. Well, she compr o ‡mises with "one more
day", fate intervenes, and.......

Third Act. Not much to say about this, especially since we don’t know your
reactions yet, and what you may want changed. We hear it all ve r ‡y|‡lyrical
Suffice it, for the moment, to say that Hinty on pages1x ‡ 3 & 4, after the others
go, is very tired and, under all his "logic", st e ‡wing in self-pity. His vanity is
wounded, his poem unfinished. Then, when the chance comes, he strikes, throwing
also the ultimate choice on Caroline’s shoulders. After all, she could tell
Mauer the truth. After Mauer goes, he’s quite [a]master of himself, even if his
attempt to get rid of Caroline doesn’t work, even if there is a veiled thre a ‡t
in her saying she won’t let him forget|‡a thing. He can manage her. And the
Caroline we see in the last scene is a broken woman, an alarm clock with no will
of her own. Her "mad scene" before the change of scene, should make people shit
in their pants with terror.

-------------------

Well, there’s no news from here. We’re both well and hope the same for you and
Giulio. ‡ Stop catching colds, it is ‡ manyxxxx ‡ umonly. ‡ Much love from us both; and
we hope to hear from you soon.

Chester

P.S. when all the revisions are made to your "satisfaction", we’ll do a
final version of the script including the "Titles" and the descriptions of the
characters. Pazienza!

Letter from C. Kallman to H. W. Henze, January 13, 1960

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