Kallman, Chester: Brief an Henze, Hans Werner. Kirchstetten, Mittwoch, 6. Juli 1960
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/)

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Kirchstetten July 6 1960[^1]

[^1: 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.]

Enclosed an aria for Toni [Toni’s aria, which was originally attached to this letter, is not among the correspondence materials.] 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) [A line connects this with the clarification above, in brackets.] case, misleading) part of the Aria*Cabaletta form. Well, not so misleading after all if two madnesses are to cross in the Finale.[^2] 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.

[^2: 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.]

Also, I have begun, reluctantly, to agree with those who object that the opening of the Third Act is 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.] But I think we can iron it out in three-way discussion when you visit us.[^3] 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.

[^3: 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.]

Thanks for the Homburg book and 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.] 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.[^4] Alessandro's address is:

[^4: 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.]

Zabatta, Alessandro
Via Antonio diLuca

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|whilewewere 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 [Kallman had arrived in Cuxhaven, near Hamburg, on the Hanseatic transatlantic, see this letter.]: 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. [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.]

Also Fischer-Dieskau did a heavenly Song of a Wandering Gazelle in Vienna[^5], 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.]--though his acting, I'm afraid,was misconceived and a bit silly at times.

[^5: 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.]

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
[This note signed by Henze at the bottom of the letter is probably the composer’s reply (perhaps by telegraph), yet to be located.] 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.] wire if generally disposed undertake changes urgent Glyndebourne makes performance dependent 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.] love = Hans