Letter from C. Kallman to H. W. Henze, August 25, 1964

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Chester Kallman

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

25 Aug 64 answered 5 September ‡ Casta Divisa, *

By now you will have gotten Wystan’s letter and the mutilated body* of our
beloved Beckheimer *, so there’s no point discussing that for the moment. Other
things then, The Cantata z.b.‡ * Well, ducky, the text, now three-quarters done,
simply would not do for a small choir, it wouldn’t remotely make sense in those
terms. Without sending the text, which I’ll do in any case when it’s finsx‡ished,
this is hard to explain, so you’ll have to take my high fucking word for it. But
I should adore dreaming up a text for your Köln ‡ thing* if you would give me some
idea of the length, the sort of mood, subject and/or contrasts of mood and subject
you would like. That would set me going. Perhaps in honour of the forthcoming
(it would be in retrospect of course) Greek Royal Wedding, with "outer" sections
on Copenhagen and Athens (the joys of) and an "inner" so to speak "movement" in
praise of the Greek Ro‡yal Guard.* Yum. We could call it, to suggest that it’s sort
of a "toast" to wedded bliss: "up yours." In any case.

I’ve already heard from and answered Renat‡e, who seems, if not all well, at least
better.* She enclosed an ad from the Munich press looking for P‡hotomodels, but
one has to give a Munich phone number and be there to await work.* So that will
have to wait. Have you, by the way, completely given up your flat in Munich, or
is it available to a respectable Helleno-american‡ couple for sub-let?* As far as
Mr. Nickstadt is concerned, silence like the grave. I hope he hasn’t hot-pawed
the colors off. Yes, and I don’t quite follow all your references to Mister
K. Savides and his Taverna: you say "she would be gelosa" --but I don’t understand
of what and whom. Were my Adored One[sic]‡ to work as a, say, bartender there (and he
can speak German, and is xx‡, shall we say, presentable) Mr. Savides should surely
be aware that a certain Italian-speaking languid American Fairy would put a
knife between her greasy ribs if she touched him. Anyways, Kostas keeps saying he
never wants to see another Greek again once he leaves Greece, but that’s just what
he says. Well, we’ll see. Hans, he’s such an angelllllllllll……

Another thing in your letter puzzles me, you say it was being typed by a "very cute"
Mr. Smith who is "Hilda Mack the second." * I am intrigued at this startling
change in your tastes; Is Mr. Smith really over seventy and dressed in the drags
of yesteryear? Are you perhaps taking melodies down that her dead husband, a
very large mountain climber, dictates to her from some forgotten grave in the
Castelli Romani? Do explain, darling, before I write all my friends about what
I picture as a rather strange household.

Too awful about Folker, but if it brings you together sooner that, at least, is
something.*

It would seem that the Greek Poost[sic]‡ office has gone stark raving mad, or that someone
light-fingered is interventing‡, because my Darling hasn’t received my last three
letters and is convinced I’m cross with him and floods me with letters asking
why (the last letter he did get from me did have a passage in it that was a
bit of a reprimand about something he’d done) and begging me to forget about
"such things.‡" Dear, dear. I’m so afraid that even my explanations, including
a long telegram, are also disappearing into the void. And the poo‡r duck is
nervous and answ‡ers his officers back and is always being confined to barracks.
I hope this doesn’t mean a delay in his release. Maybe I’ll have to ask
Enrichetta* to drop a hint in that other Kosta’s ear. I’ll be back in the Athens
of Greece the 15th of Sept. Three weeks more. (Orchestra "up." Curtain.)

πολη[sic]‡‡ αγάπη –– ‡
τσεστερ *

Much love from us both
Penelope (in Stitches)*

Editorial

Responsibilities

Editor(s)
Elena Minetti
Transcription
Elena Minetti

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: 1x längs, 1x quer

      • Extent

    • 1 folio
    • 1 written page
    • Dimensions: 292x210 [mm] (HxW)

      • Condition

    • Gelocht.
      •

      Layout

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

Writing styles

Text Constitution

  • 1.
    "answered 5 September "added below, handwritten, pen (blue)
  • 2.
    "s"deleted by overtyping
  • 3.
    "… Köln"The two umlaut dots above the "o" were added in blue pen by Kallman.
  • 4.
    "o"added above, handwritten, ballpoint pen (blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 5.
    "t""n" replaced with "t"
  • 6.
    "P""O" replaced with "P"
  • 7.
    "Adored One"sic
  • 8.
    "x"deleted by overtyping
  • 9.
    "Poost"sic
  • 10.
    "s."added inline, handwritten, ballpoint pen (blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 11.
    "oo""rr" replaced with "oo"
  • 12.
    "w""s" replaced with "w"
  • 13.
    Following: handwritten, ballpoint pen (blue), Kallman, Chester
  • 14.
    "πολη"sic
  • 15.
    "… πολη"Kallman misspells a grave accent on the eta (η), using a grave accent (`), that actually doesn’t exist on this alphabet letter.
  • 16.
    "… πολη αγάπη ––"The correct form in Greek should be "πολύ αγάπη".

Commentary

  • 1.
    "N.-Ö."abbreviation of "Niederösterreich".
  • 2.
    "… Casta Divisa,"This is a pun on "Casta diva" and/or "Casta Divisa". Here, Kallman is probably referring to the aria Casta Diva from the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini. In Italian, the word "casta" means "caste", in its feminine form. The word "divisa" has several meanings: it can mean a type of distinctive uniform for a particular role, such as the military uniform, or in an archaic, figurative sense it can mean "appearance", "semblance".
  • 3.
    "… letter and the mutilated body"The expression "mutilated body" refers to the many cuts of the libretto of The Bassarids that Henze had obtained thus far from the two librettists.
  • 4.
    "… body of our beloved Beckheimer"It is not known in what sense the word "Beckheimer" relates to The Bassarids. Perhaps, it is a play on words between Becky (The Bassarids nickname) and Beckheimer, which could be a German surname.
  • 5.
    "z.b."abbreviation of "zum Beispiel".
  • 6.
    "… The Cantata z.b. zum Beispiel"Kallman is referring here to the "four poem cycle" he had proposed to Henze to set to music, but which the composer later failed to realise due to a lack of time. See this letter by Kallman to Henze and Henze’s Autobiography, pp. 171-172.
  • 7.
    "… text for your Köln thing"What Kallman is referring to with the "Köln thing" is unclear.
  • 8.
    "… Greek R o yal Guard."Kallman alludes here to the marriage of Constantine II, King of the Hellenes, and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, which took place on 18 September 1964, in Athens. The cities of Athens and Copenhagen mentioned here would thus like to be a tribute to the hometowns of the two newlyweds. Kallman was particularly connected to Greek royal affairs as his lover at the time, Kosta, worked as a member of the Royal Greek Guard.
  • 9.
    "… all well, at least better."Renate Praetorius was ill, as revealed in the previous letters.
  • 10.
    "… be there to await work."Kallman had asked Henze and his secretary Renate Praetorius for help in finding work in Munich as a model for his Greek lover Kosta. See Kallman’s letter on 27 July 1964.
  • 11.
    "american"recte "American".
  • 12.
    "… Helleno- american couple for sub-let?"Immediately prior to his move to Italy in May 1953, Henze lived in Munich in a rented apartment belonging to Mrs. Pröschl on Jakob-Klar-Straße (see Autobiographie, p. 105). It is very likely that Henze had yet to rent a house in Munich at the time of this letter.
  • 13.
    gelosa
    • jealous
  • 14.
    "… is Hilda Mack the second." Charles Harvey Smith was Henze’s secretary during this period. In a still-to-be located letter, Henze compared him to Hilda Mack, a character from Elegy for Young Lovers. Kallman thus imagines Smith as a crazy widow in her sixties who has been waiting forty years for her husband to return after disappearing during an Alpine climb. Her visions stimulate the creativity of the work’s main character, the poet Mittenhofer.
  • 15.
    "… that, at least, is something."Henze’s partner Folker Bohnet was on a tournée for a long time. See Henze’s letter to Kallman on 6 August 1964. Something probably happened, which would have led to Folker’s early return.
  • 16.
    "interventing"recte "intervening".
  • 17.
    "… I'll have to ask Enrichetta"Enrichetta’s identity is not ascertained. Perhaps he could refer to his friend Enrico.
  • 18.
    πολη αγάπη ––
    • Lots of love
  • 19.
    "… τσεστερ"Kallman signs his name "Chester" with the Greek letters, in which the initial sound "ch" is rendered with the letters "ts".
  • 20.
    "… us both Penelope (in Stitches)"Reference to Penelope from Homer’s Odyssey, waiting for Odysseus for ten years, stretching the web.

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        By courtesy of the Estate of Chester Kallman.

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        Copyright by the Estate of Chester Kallman.

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

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