Letter from C. Kallman to H. W. Henze, July 6, 1960

[Typescript]

8 1/2
12 1/4 ‡

Kirchstetten July 6 [1960] * [ ]‡ Hansl sweet, ‡

Enclosed an aria for Toni * to come before Hulda’s Cabaletta at the end of act one , and
thus form a natural (if, in this(Ako y "reviews" for infinity)‡ ‡ case, misleading) part of the Aria*Cabaletta form.
Well, not so misleading after all if two madnesses are to cross in the Finale.* It also
supplied a little more psychological information on dreary, handsome, big-cocked Toni.
ABA, I imagine, would be the ar ia ‡’s form. Rather intime, Winterreise-ish.

Also, I have begun, reluctantly, to agree with those who object that the opening of the
Third Act is a bit schwach,--etwas fehlt.* But I think we can iron it out in three-way
discussion when you visit us.* Some idea of what you would like musically would be the
ideal assistance to us. And I also think the other changes and cuts you want are best
managed when we’re all of us here in Kirchstetten together. So we wait at your disposal.

Thanks for the Homburg book and booklet (why no henze[sic] ‡ photo?).* It’s a shame that both times
it was broadcast, there were mad electric storms over Aus t ‡ria and I couldn’t hear a thing.
So do be a darling and have copies made of your tapes (and of any other of your tapes you
want us to hear--I’ll gladly pay for the cost) of Prinz and bring them with you. Also--
if you want to do me a great favour, and you have the time to do it, perhaps you could
pop over to Ischia and get my carpet from Alessandro or his family and find out from
William where Miti is, so’s I can send her a check to pay for the damn rug.* Alessandro’s
address is:

Zabatta, Alessandro
Via Antonio diLuca[sic] ‡

Kirchstetten
July 6

[P] ‡ lease try to get it and bring it with [you].

We were up in Berlin and saw Jurgen, as you’ve probably heard. Felsenstein cancelled
Hoffman three times|‡whilewec ‡were there, so that was out; and the Berliner Ensemble was
in Paris, so that was out; and all the Lokalen have music-boxes and that made Wystan
very unhappy, so they were out. Lenjy , however, was fine. I journeyed by way of
Hamburg *: Walter now lives over the Casino, besetzt by the owner; so that was out. But
I did manage to get to the Grundgens "Gyges Ring" which was sublime.*

Also Fischer-Dieskau did a heavenly "Song of a Wandering Gazelle" in Vienna *, and sang
divinely in "Arabella" *--though his acting, I’m afraid,was misconceived and a bit
silly at times.

So, let us know how you are and when you’re due here, and we send much love and kiss
Giulio for me (anyplace you want to) and

Ciao
Chester * Thanks lovely ‡ new aria* ‡
wire if generally disposed ‡ undertake
changes urgent ‡Glyndebourne
makes performance dependant[sic] ‡ on them * love = Hans ‡

Translation by

Editorial

Responsibilities

Editor(s): Elena Minetti

Übertragung: 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

Writing styles

1.

Typescript, Kallman, Chester.
2.

Handwriting, pencil.
3.

Handwriting, Kallman, Chester, ball pen (blue).
4.

Handwriting, ball pen (pink).
5.

Handwriting, Henze, Hans Werner, pencil.

Text Constitution

1.

"8 1/2 12 1/4 "added at the top margin, Text turned clockwise (330°), handwritten, pencil
2.

Text loss by punch
3.

"Hansl sweet,"crossed out, handwritten, ball pen (blue), Kallman, Chester
4.

"(Ako y "reviews" for infinity)"added above, handwritten, ball pen (blue), Kallman, Chester
5.

"… (Ako y reviews for infinity)"A line connects this with the clarification above, in brackets.
6.

"ia""ai" replaced with "ia"
7.

"henze"sic
8.

"t""r" replaced with "t"
9.

"diLuca"sic
10.

Following: handwritten, ball pen (pink)
11.

Following: typescript, Kallman, Chester
12.

"P"Text loss by punch
13.

"|"added inline, handwritten, ball pen (blue), Kallman, Chester
14.

"c"erased
15.

Following: handwritten, ball pen (blue), Kallman, Chester
16.

"Thanks lovely new … love = Hans"added below, handwritten, pencil, Henze, Hans Werner
17.

""crossed out
18.

""crossed out
19.

""crossed out
20.

""crossed out

Commentary

1.

"… Kirchstetten July 6 1960"In 1960, Auden, Henze and Kallman worked intensively on the opera Elegy for Young Lovers, which is mentioned in this letter and was premiered on 20 May 1961. It is therefore certain that this letter was written on 6 July 1960, since they had not begun work on this opera in as much detail as this letter shows prior to this year (in the summer of 1959 they were still working out the general ideas of the opera). In addition to this, in this letter Kallman alludes to the premiere of Der Prinz von Homburg, which took place on 22 May 1960, that is, a few weeks before this letter was written.
2.

"… Enclosed an aria for Toni"Toni’s aria, which was originally attached to this letter, is not among the correspondence materials.
3.

"… to cross in the Finale."There are two great scenes of madness in the opera, that of Hilda Mack (Act I, Scene I) and that of Carolina von Kirchstetten (Act III, Scene V), but here Kallman seems to allude to the Finale of Act I, scene XI, entitled precisely To-morrow: Two Follies Cross.
4.

"… a bit schwach,--etwas fehlt ."The opening of the Act III in the final version of the opera (Act III, Scene I: Man and Wife) stages the departure of Toni and Elizabeth to the Hammerhorn, singing a popular song.
5.

"… when you visit us ."In his Autobiography, p. 166, Henze writes that he visited Auden and Kallman for the second time in Kirchstetten during his trip by car from Naples to West Berlin. It can be inferred from the autobiography that this trip took place after May 1960 (soon after Henze received the entire libretto of Elegy for Young Lovers by post in Naples). Given the dating of this letter, the meeting in Kirchstetten between the three authors therefore most likely took place in the summer of 1960.
6.

"… booklet (why no henze photo?)."Henze must have sent Kallman the libretto and program notes of the premiere of Der Prinz von Homburg, which took place on 22 May 1960, in Hamburg.
7.

"… pay for the damn rug."In his reply of 19 July 1960, Henze states that he discovered their common friend Mitty (Kallman writes "Miti") was in Forio after writing to another common friend, Alessandro Zabatta. Kallman probably damaged or stained Mitty’s rug, and was talking about paying for it.
8.

"… journeyed by way of Hamburg"Kallman had arrived in Cuxhaven, near Hamburg, on the Hanseatic transatlantic, see this letter.
9.

"… Gyges Ring which was sublime."Gustaf Gründgens played Kandaules (king of Lydia) in his production of Friedrich Hebbel’s opera Gyges and his ring, which had its premiere at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg on 21 May 1960.
10.

"… a Wandering Gazelle in Vienna"Here, Kallman is probably making a linguistic joke and uses the English word "gazelle" instead of the German "Gesellen". The title alludes to Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, which Fischer-Dieskau performed in 1960.
11.

"… and sang divinely in Arabella"Fischer-Dieskau played the role of Mandryka in Arabella on 15 June 1960 at the Wiener Staatsoper. See the program of the Wiener Staatsoper.
12.
Ciao
- Bye
13.

"… "This note signed by Henze at the bottom of the letter is probably the composer’s reply (perhaps by telegraph), yet to be located.
14.

"… Thanks lovely new aria"In this note, Henze alludes to the new version of Toni’s aria that Kallman had sent him as an attachment to this letter.
15.

"dependant"recte "dependent".
16.

"… makes performance dependant on them"This annotation refers to the performance of Elegy for Young Lovers, which was first performed in its original language (English) in Glyndebourne on 13 July 1961.

Automatical Commentary

1.

"Lenjy"Assignment not clear.
2.

"Walter"Assignment not clear.

Letter from C. Kallman to H. W. Henze, July 6, 1960

Settings

Document

Context

Absolute Chronology

Preceding

Following

Direct Context

Preceding

Following

Persons

Organizations

Works

Places

[Typescript]

Editorial

Responsibilities

Tradition

Physical Description

Material

Extent

Condition

Layout

Writing styles

Text Constitution

Commentary

Automatical Commentary

Backlinks

XML

Proposed citation

Credits

Legal notice

Loading … 1