Letter from C. Kallman to H. W. Henze, August 11, 1964

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Chester Kallman

Kirchstetten (Westbahn)
Hinterholz 6
N.-Ö. ‡, Austria

11 Aug 64 answered August 19 ‡ Hans agapin mou,*‡ ΑΓΑΠΗΝ ΜΟΥ – or - My Love‡

Wystan and I got back yesterday from Greece and Jugoslavia and found your letter.
About Becky: If cuts must be made, they must be made,* but I think they had best
be made by you with either or both of us together in the same place.* Our
minds at the moment are, alas, too distant from the work to be able to re-think
it without your personal intervention and presence. Capisce? But, before you
tear into the p oo ‡r body of our lamb like a Bassarid, consider soberly the
possibility of doing it in two acts, the curtain to fall into the precipice
of stillness and distant laughter just before the Intermezzo.* It is, I think,
our extensive treatment of the story that distinguishes it; and cuts could (I
don’t say must) weaken the impact of the complete work by narrowing its vision.
No doubt, even in Two Acts, certain cuts will have to be made in places that you,
as you put it, wish the music to 'take over.' * For I am certain you are correct
in saying that there are places that we have already 'composed' the work ourselves.
Still. Also remember how much of the work is meant to be simultaneously sung,
and you will see that the text, long as it is, is not so long as a straight
through reading of it would indicate. In any case, we depend upon you to make
specific suggestions. When you did in Salzburg, lovey, we obliged;* so
jedenfals [sic] ‡ you can’t wave that 'first draft' telegram in our faces.* Yes?

Look. My plans are to return to the "arms" of the Beloved in late‡ September, and wait
for him to be released by the King (who is a fool to let him go), and get his
Passport in order. Our plans include an Italian Honeymoon. Now, if we could
stay with you a bit,‡ ‡ that would not only be cheaper for me, but would give me a
chance to turn the sheets of "Becky" over one by one with you. Write us*‡ *that is
Wystan + me –‡ in
the meantime of course, and be sure of our most humble consideration. But like
I said, we wait on your suggestions. Remember, too, when you go on about the
ninety-minute limit (considering the intensity of treatment) that the Intermezzo
does afford some relief, even if it is of a rather grubby sort. And do consider
the act division wwith‡all the Prussian seriousness you are capable of. And
don’t forget that "Capriccio" lasts two hours and twenty minutes, during which
nothing happens. Let’s cut with love, as the circumcisor[sic] ‡ said, and not because
there won’t be a hole big enough for it. There always is.

Jugoslavia is so full of beauties that if I hadn’t been passing through on my
way to and from Kosta, I would surely have gone out of my fucking mind. All the
plans about seeing him on leave at his brother’s wedding, got snarled and
botched because his brother still had exams to complete in Tübbingen[sic] ‡ , and K ‡ was
denied leave at the last moment. So I flew down from Salonica to Athens and
saw him there when he wasn’t gotten up in his ballet drag for more public display.
He was angelic, popping off between "the acts" to bring me great bunches of flowers,
and grinning with happiness from ear to ear. So T‡hank‡ you enormously for writing
to Munich;* you are a sweet. And, naturally, I don’t think that (except in the
case of some extraordinary luck) he can make a full career of modelling: I had
thought he could and should do something like bartending for the steady money, and
have the modelling as the extra to put aside, say, for our having a small chic
bar someday together that would provide us both with an income. Who knows what a
gay poet can earn by his "creations?x ‡" And I had thought of Munich as the place
to go. Modelling in the States, I may say, pays like mad, but the labor permit
problem is a problem. Nor is Kostas that mad to go to America, determined as he
is to leave Greece. We shall see. We shall see.

Oh yes, Wystan and I did drop in on my in-laws in Macedonia. They were all agog[sic] ‡
with welcome in their small peasant dwelling, spotlessly clean and with a big
picture of Kosta shaking hands with the Princesse Irene on the wall.‡ (By the by--will ‡

Enrico be going to the Royal Wedding in Athens in September?*) And I was ‡ pleased
also to meet Kosta’s 19 year old brother, who is coming to Germany in a few
months to seek factory work for a year before he enters the Army--which is what
Kostas did, for two years. Rather nice. If Kosta means him to live with us, he
better have a bedroom well down the hall; I shouldn’t like him to be "disturbed."
And he looks disturbable.

I will write to Renate if she’s back and better, but I don’t have her addresse.
Could you send? By the by, how is lovely lazy Hubert ?

It is a shame Folker will be away so long. I do ‡ understand how you must feel.
Two hours away drives me snazzly[sic] ‡; but then, I’m just a bride.

One more Thing: I’ve completed two parts of a four poem "cycle", quite short,
that I think of as a little Cantate (between ten and fifteen minutes long, if that
long) for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano with one or two pianos as accompaniment (or
String Quartet) and I was wondering if you might think it fun to set, as a sort
of relaxation before "Becky", and dedicate to Elizabeth Soderstrom and Kerstin
Meyer. If the Idea appeals to you at all I’ll send you what I have so far and
explain my "plan" further. Let me know.*

I was sorry you didn’t come to that dreadx ‡ry‡ "do" in Hamburg. How could you
stay away from a Krenek Premiere?* My dear. Stupidsmith said to Ernst Schnabel
at the Party after the Show: "Only in Hamburg could they have produced this."
Ernst said: "Only in Hamburg would they have.*" Ernst also got very blau* and
told the director what he thought. It was a lovely evening. Later in the
week, though, I was happy to see the Prinz Von[sic] ‡ Homburg there. The production was
even worse than you led me to believe, and some of the playing and singing was
rough, but the house was almost full and very|‡ ‡ responsive, and I found it just as
beautiful as I remembered and much less boring. In fact I quite enjoyed myself.
But I won’t bother you with any further Critique.

By the by, I think it slightly piggy of you to say nothing about the photos I
sent. Did you send them on to Munich?*

Waiting impatiently for your reply, love.

Love from us both
Chester

P.S. What did you expect from Rennert if he’s Artistic
Director. About "Elegy" in N.Y. * – Wystan is wintering in
Berlin on Ford Foundation (the thing Ingeborg had); and
I may only be back in N.Y. for a four week visit with
Kosta around New Years[sic] ‡.*

P.P.S. A man come up to me at that opera Party and said: "you look
like a young Leopold Ludwig." Really!! ‡ Ernst told me the
man was Klebe.*

Translation by

Editorial

Responsibilities

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

Tradition

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

    Physical Description

    • Document type: Letter

      • Material

    • Briefpapier_Kallman_Kirchstetten
    • Faltung: 1mal längs, 1mal quer

      • Extent

    • 1 folio
    • 2 written pages
    • Dimensions: 293x210 [mm] (HxW)

      • Condition

    • Gelocht. Bei einem oberen Loch ausgerissen
      •

      Layout

    • 1zeilig
    • nicht eingerückt
    • Leerzeile nach jedem Absatz
    • Rand: 2,3 cm
      •

Writing styles

Text Constitution

  • 1.
    " answered August 19 "added below, handwritten, pen (blue)
  • 2.
    "*"added above, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 3.
    "ΑΓΑΠΗΝ ΜΟΥ – … - My Love"added at the top margin, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 4.
    "oo""rr" replaced with "oo"
  • 5.
    "jedenfals"sic
  • 6.
    " late"added above, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 7.
    " a bit, "added above, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 8.
    "bit,"uncertain transcription
  • 9.
    "*"added inline, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 10.
    "*that is Wystan + me –"added in the right margin
  • 11.
    "… consider the act division wwith"The second "w" is faded out; to connect the first "w" with the "i", Kallman draws two arches above and below with blue pen, to link the two letters.
  • 12.
    "Tübbingen"sic
  • 13.
    " K ""he" overwritten with " K "
  • 14.
    "So T"added above, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 15.
    "… to ear. So T hank"The "T" was already typed, but was overwritten in pen again.
  • 16.
    "?"deleted by overtyping
  • 17.
    "agog"sic
  • 18.
    " on the wall."added above, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 19.
    ""crossed out, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 20.
    "was"Underlining, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 21.
    "do"Underlining, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 22.
    "snazzly"sic
  • 23.
    "dreadry"uncertain transcription
  • 24.
    "d"deleted by overtyping
  • 25.
    "Von"sic
  • 26.
    "y| "added inline, handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 27.
    "… y|"The vertical stroke was added later to divide the two words.
  • 28.
    Following: handwritten, ball pen (dark blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 29.
    ""crossed out

Commentary

  • 1.
    "N.-Ö."abbreviation of "Niederösterreich".
  • 2.
    "… made, they must be made,"See the detailed justification of the necessity of cuts in Henze’s preceding letter.
  • 3.
    "… together in the same place."In his previous letter, Henze asked the two librettists to make substantial cuts to the libretto of The Bassarids, otherwise the opera would be too long.
  • 4.
    Capisce?
    • you know?
  • 5.
    "… laughter just before the Intermezzo."The final structure of the opera The Bassarids includes four movements, separated by the Intermezzo and has a "durchkomponierte Form" (through-composed form), see Henze, "Komponist als Interpret", pp. 251-252. As Henze wrote in his letter on 6 August 1964, originally, the opera was to be in one act.
  • 6.
    "… the music to take over."Kallman echoes here Henze’s request in his previous letter, p. 1, to his librettists.
  • 7.
    "… Salzburg , lovey, we obliged;"Here, Kallman is probably alluding to the above-mentioned need to be with the composer to make cuts to the opera, instead of by exchanging letters.
  • 8.
    jedenfals
    • anyway
  • 9.
    "… draft telegram in our faces."Here, Kallman is referring to the telegram mentioned in Henze’s previous letter, in which the two librettists informed the composer that they had sent the "first draft" of the libretto of The Bassarids, which was therefore unfinished.
  • 10.
    "circumcisor"recte "circumciser".
  • 11.
    "… for writing to Munich ;"See Henze’s earlier letter to Kallman dated 6 August 1964, in which the composer wrote that he had written a letter to help Kosta find work as a model in Munich.
  • 12.
    "… in Athens in September ?"Constantine II, King of the Hellenes, and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark got married on 18 September 1964, in Athens.
  • 13.
    "… plan further. Let me know."Henze writes in his Autobiography (pp. 171-172) that he received the text of a Cantata for the Swedish singers Söderström and Meyer from Kallman, but never found the time to set it to music. This was Kallman’s text to The Solitudes, from which Henze quotes a brief extract.
  • 14.
    "… away from a Krenek Premiere?"The premiere of Ernst Krenek’s 4-act opera Der goldene Bock (Chrysomallos), op. 186, was held in Hamburg on 16 June 1964. It is likely that Kallman is referring to this premiere.
  • 15.
    "… in Hamburg would they have."This was probably the composer, Ernst Krenek’s response, however, since both are named Ernst, it is not known which Kallman is referring to.
  • 16.
    "… Ernst also got very blau"This means he was drunk.
  • 17.
    "… them on to Munich ?"Kallman refers here to the photos of Kosta that he had sent to Henze in his letter, asking for help in finding him a job as a model.
  • 18.
    "… Director. About Elegy in N.Y." Elegy for Young Lovers had its U.S. premiere on 29 April 1965, in New York City at The Juilliard Opera Theater, with Henze himself conducting and Christopher West as stage director. Henze had probably asked the two librettists for information on when to meet there for the preparation of the opera. It is known from his Autobiography, p. 205, that Henze was in New York for four weeks in the Spring of 1965.
  • 19.
    "Years"recte "Year’s".
  • 20.
    "… Kosta around New Years ."Auden actually spent the winter semester in West Berlin as Ford Foundation’s artist in residence. However, it is clear from the exchange of correspondence that he was in New York in December 1964, probably together with Kallman and Kosta.
  • 21.
    "… the man was Klebe ."Leopold Ludwig had conducted the premiere of Henze’s opera Der Prinz von Homburg and would direct the premiere of Klebe’s opera Jacobowsky und der Oberst the following year.

      Automatical Commentary

      • 1.
        "Hubert"Assignment not clear.
      • 2.
        "Ernst"Assignment not clear.
      • 3.
        "Ernst"Assignment not clear.

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      Credits

      By courtesy of the Estate of Chester Kallman.

      Legal notice

      Copyright by the Estate of Chester Kallman.

      If you've spotted some error or inaccurateness please do not hesitate to inform us via henze-digital [@] zenmem.de.

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