Kallman, Chester: Brief an Henze, Hans Werner. Kirchstetten (Westbahn), Sonntag, 20. September 1964
author: Kallman, Chester
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Copyright by the Estate of Chester Kallman. By courtesy of the Estate of Chester Kallman. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

20 Sept 64
Dearest Hands Handsy,[^1]

[^1: As in previous letters, Kallman enjoys coming up with nicknames for Henze.]

Enclosed a photo of angel Yannis (please return) who is six-foot-three in his (big) bare feet.[^2] I don't know if angeling over your household would suit him, though I do know that he would be efficient as of now, and his Italian is zero, though I have the highest confidence in his ability to “p ick up” either or both fairly quickly. And that Evzone elegance of bearing would naturally be very effective at answering doors and ladelling soup. How he would take to performing such services when you had perhaps me and Kosta Zu Gast, is of course another matter. Yes? At any rate, he probably will have service until sometime in December, so why not meet me in Greece and “interview” him yourself? Do make up your dark creative m i nd about this trip. Mehr Licht.[^3] I am flying back to Athens on September 28th: American Express, Athens will be my address. But d o come; there'll be some very amusing and intelligent American friends of mine there too, besides all the|unutterable delights of the native population. Not to mention me; and to add to my already considerable attractions, I won't (except in naturally one case) be giving any competition. Vieni, vieni meco…..[^4]

[^2: Yannis was a member of the Evzones, the Greek royal guard, like Kosta, with whom Kallman had a relationship.]

[^3: Kallman often uses expressions typical of theater work in his letters. Here “more light” is meant to prepare for the big news of his long-planned trip to Greece.]

[^4: Here, Kallman is recalling the line from the baritone aria “Vieni meco sol di rose” in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Ernani.]

Söderström made her first guest appearance at the Opera here last week as Octavian.[^5] She was quite wonderful, but I was only able to speak to her very briefly after the performance, because she had to rush and catch a train to Frankfort . Flibberty-gibbet as I am, I forgot to take a copy of the Solitudes in to her, but I told her about it and she was, naturally, quite quite pleased. And so am I that you liked them. There is, however, on more thing I must know before I can goose my Muse into muttering something in my ear about your antiphonal piece: How long do you want it to be: time-wise? Let me know soon as soon.[^6]

[^5: Elisabeth Söderström had performed the role of Ocatavian in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier on 18 September 1964, at the Vienna State Opera. See the Archiv online of the Wiener Staatsoper.]

[^6: Henze must have reacted positively to Kallman about the project, but a letter discussing this has not been located.]

Nothing ever happens here, which is nice, but hardly anything to write you about. I'm struggling on, rather like trying to push my head through a ton of modelling clay, with a very difficult long poem; we eat, we drink, we function. I wait for the 28th. Write quickly.

From Nickstadt silence. From Renate too. I hope she hasn't taken ill again.[^7] How's Folker? And send him my love when you write him.[^8]

[^7: See the previous letters, in which Kallman explains that he was looking for a job as model for his lover Kosta in Munich.]

[^8: At the time, Folker was Henze's partner and he was on a tour in South America and the southern part of the USA with his German theatre company.]

Love
Penelope[^9]

[^9: Already in another letter, Kallman had signed himself as “Penelope”, the one who awaits the beloved.]