Letter [Carbon copy] from H. W. Henze to W. H. Auden, August 27, 1964

Writing styles

• 1.

  Typescript, Henze, Hans Werner.

Text Constitution

• 1.

  "whall"sic

Commentary

• 1.

  "… reply to my proposed omissions"Henze’s letter to Kallman is not located yet. The proposed omissions to which Henze alludes are probably those contained in the letter dated 6 August 1964.
• 2.

  "… that you accepted and helped."In Auden’s letter of 16 August 1964, the two librettists requested the libretto be printed in full and provided some corrections to the libretto.
• 3.

  "… played very beautifully there ."The premiere of Ariosi, conducted by Colin Davies, was held in Edinburgh on 23 August 1964.
• 4.

  "… bits that haven't been set."In this quote, Ken Bartlett, who at the time was director of the opera and concert section of the Schott publishing house in Mainz, refers to the possibility of printing the libretto in its entirety, i.e., even the parts that Henze did not actually set to music, as requested by the librettists in Auden’s letter of 16 August 1964. In the libretto printed in the original English version, the parts of the text that Henze did not set to music are given in square brackets. In the libretto in German, however, these are not translated and are omitted altogether.
• 5.

  "… looking forward to Chester's visit"In his letter dated 11 August 1964, Kallman had told Henze that he would happily take a kind of honeymoon with Kosta to Italy at the end of September and stay at Henze’s place.
• 6.

  "… 13th to the 20th .)."It could not be ascertained whether Kallman actually went to visit Henze at Castelgandolfo in the fall of 1964.
• 7.

  "… both and about Bassy ."Auden consulted Desmond Shore-Taylor about the correct British pronunciation of some Greek names for The Bassarids, even if Auden’s opinion about his proposals was not positive. See Auden’s letter dated 31 August 1964.