Henze, Hans Werner: Brief an Auden, Wystan Hugh/Kallman, Chester in Kirchstetten. Berlin, Mittwoch, 6. Oktober 1965
author: Henze, Hans Werner
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Mit freundlicher Genehmigung der Hans Werner Henze-Stiftung (Dr. Michael Kerstan). (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

z.Zt. Berlin 33
Oberhaardter Weg 45

6th October, 1965

Herren
Wystan H. Auden and Chester Kallman
Kirchstetten/ bei Wien

dear Wystan and Chester,

thank you for the sweet telegram, and I can hardly tell you how delighted I am to have finished that motherfucking work. It was very difficult and sometimes I thought I would go mad. Probably the work is much too long and whenever anything has to be cut in order to make it performable I shall hate you for having made it so long or for having not cut enough.[^1] E.g., after the sextet Agave’s lament or rather addio to her dead son which you thought could not be done without is there alright, but makes it long.[^2] In various situations all through the opera I am aware of the certain overlength in almost all situations. This can of course be made a theatrical style but not easily a virtue. As to the music, I suppose it is the best stuff I ever wrote. Symphonic forms have been thoroughly observed and would make of course any cut terrible assassination.[^3] Exhausted as I am from this work I feel I have given birth to something monstrous: there lies, sad and poisoned, the cadaver of an Arabian stallion. So my happiness is namely about the torture being over, but the other preoccupations do start now.

[^1: Henze requested several times that the two librettists cut parts of the libretto. In this regard, see the letters dated 6 August, 11 August, and 16 August 1964. Concerning the cuts in the original libretto, see the chapter Kürzungen am Originalentwurf in Schottler, Die Bassariden von Hans Werner Henze, pp. 133-169.]

[^2: Here, Henze refers to Agave's last aria corresponding to bars B 1200 - B 1259 of the score, preceded by the concertato of lamentation (referred to here by Henze as the Sextet) for the death of King Pentheus, with Autonoe, Agave, Beroe, Tiresias, Cadmus, and the chorus of Bassarids and corresponding to bars B 1155 - B 1199.]

[^3: The structure of The Bassarids includes four movements, like in a symphony. Henze wrote: Mit den Bassariden stoße ich jetzt zur durchkomponierten Großform der Oper vor. Aber auch diese Form folgt alten Gesetzen: denen der viersätzigen Sinfonie, die den Bassariden–Einakter gliedern, in Henze, Tradition und Kulturerbe, in Musik und Politik: Schriften und Gespräche 1955–1984, p. 117. The suggestion to write an opera durchkomponiert, that is, composed from beginning to end without interruption like a Wagnerian music drama, came from the librettists, who wanted the composer to confront Wagner's music (not coincidentally, the condicio sine qua non for writing the libretto had been for Henze to hear the Götterdämmerung before beginning the composition) and urged him to move away from compositional forms related to the closed-number opera structure adopted in his earlier works. Henze wrote: In den Gesprächen mit Auden und Kallman hatte es sich jahrelang darum gehandelt, daß ich versuchen sollte, die durchkomponierte Form in Sinne von Wagner für mich zu erobern. Und man hat sogar gewünscht, daß ich Bassariden nehme, um aus einer bisherigen Praxis auszubrechen, nämlich Nummernopern zu schreiben, in Henze, Komponist als Interpret , in: Musik und Politik: Schriften und Gespräche 1955–1984, pp. 251-252. Henze exploited the symphonic principle to organize the content of the libretto and to give shape to his musical thought, but this subdivision is not perceptible on first hearing: it is difficult to grasp the four formal demarcations, both because each of the movements slips into the next in a seamless flow, and because each movement, within itself, is characterized by sections contrasting in tempo and character.]

Will the chorus ever be able to memorise the whole thing? Will I find any Pentheus ever? Who will be ready and willing to sing such a murderous part and stand in drags[^4] on the stage for twenty minutes (that is the duration of the first scene after the Intermezzo before he is gone off the stage)–? Four have refused by now and it’s getting desperate.– [For the premiere Pentheus was played by baritone Kostas Paskalis. See the cast of the performance in the Archive of the Salzburger Festspiele]

[^4: A note in the Movement III of The Bassarids, placed after the Intermezzo, explains that Pentheus enters the scene dressed in one of Agave's clothes, i.e. in the style of the Second Empire, as Henze writes in his Autobiography, p. 215. Pentheus' disguise would therefore make him look like a drag queen.]

Anyway I hope with care and certain diplomacy all the problems can be resolved. You must help me in various things right now, please. One thing is the need for a shortish, but complete Inhaltsangabe, as would be pr i nted in a program-note.[^5] There should also be an explanation what the fuck the Bassarids mean. [On the much-discussed choice of title for the work, see the Introduction to the correspondence.] I have not run into one single person yet that wouldn’t have said: Bassariden ? Was ist denn das?, or: E che cazzo è? over and over again. Friends, foreigners, lovers, Tunten [Derogatory German term for homosexuals.] , intellectuals, profans and poets, philosophers – nobody seems to have ever run into that word, and a Roman Graecist , friend of mine, told me confidentially that even Euripides did not know or use that word. But I trust mother as she ordered me to do but now mother[^6] must explain the word what Bassarids are. [Concerning the choice of title, see Auden's reply dated 20 October 1965.] I might also add that I bought dictionaries and informative literature about Greek without ever running into that word. And dwhat about the touching case of the journalist in the Frankfurter Allgemeine who looked up anything he could think of and wrote an article in the paper ... eine Orpheus-Oper von Henze explaining the Bassarids were those who were fawn-skin and killed Orpheus.[^7] I mean until now I do not quite see up to which point the habit and technique of giving –2– [On this first page, Henze writes -2- in the lower left corner as if to anticipate the next page. The same occurs on the following pages.]

[^5: Henze refers to a text about the plot of The Bassarids, which was then actually published in the premiere program notes under the title Zusammenfassung der Handlung (without page numbers). It's the same synopsis published also in the study score (without page numbers).]

[^6: In a letter written by Auden almost a year earlier, the librettist had advised him – possibly alluding to the difference in age between him and Henze – to trust his mother, that is, Auden himself, and not to seek too much advice from other people regarding the choice of the title of the opera.]

[^7: Here, Henze refers to an unsigned article published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 30 December 1964, p. 24, actually titled Eine neue Orpheus-Oper . The author of the article calls Henze's opera an Orpheus-Oper because the death of Orpheus was dealt with in Aeschylus' lost tragedy titled precisely The Bassarae. But Auden and Kallmans' libretto uses Euripides' The Bacchae as its source, and not Aeschylus' tragedy. However, the title of the opera The Bassarids was misleading to the journalist, who - apparently - had not had a chance to thoroughly familiarise himself with the authors. In particular, the article states: Die Bassariden (Bassarai) war der Titel des zweiten Stückes aus der Lykourgeia-Trilogie des Aischylos, das den Tod des Orpheus zum Inhalt hatte. Der Name Bassarai bezog sich auf den Chor thrakischer oder kleinasiatischer Mänaden und charakterisierte vermutlich deren lange, möglicherweise fuchspelzartige Gewandung.]

–2–

a theatrical work an attractive and rememberable title have been used in our case. It is up to you to bring some light into this question.

Another request is the following: Could you please write an Essay like you did in the case of Elegy [Here, Henze refers to the Essay Genesis of a libretto , published in Elegy for Young Lovers , pp. 61-63.] and give enlightenment about all the things people will not easily understand (even I after having worked 12 months now on it have not quite gotten everything). Perhaps it would be possible to give an explanation why we have costumes of all periods mixed.[^8] I feel it is a good idea, but audiences – especially, I think, German audiences – want to know why. Also theatre goers – myself not excluded – do not like to be left in the dark about the Moral von der geschicht , etc.etc. Perhaps it sort of flatters them. For myself, who instinctively and with trustfulness composed everything even where things were not completely clear to me, it would be very helpful to know more, too. E.g. why does the Matthaeus-Passion-like theme of the Intermezzo come back when Pentheus’ corps is being carried away (is it because of the tearing limb for limb-text in the Intermezzo?)[^9]

[^8: About explanatory texts, see Auden's reply dated 20 October 1965. Despite the substantial adherence to the original, Auden and Kallman, in the dramaturgical and scenic characterization of the characters, wanted to propose a historical perspective of the myth. They entrusted this to a visual device: the costumes of each character belong to different eras, in order to escape from antiquity into a time in which the last three millennia of history coexist. Each time a new character enters the scene, the authors explain in captions the costume he or she must wear. Dahlhaus writes in this regard that the librettists supported the timelessness of the myth with a hodgepodge of costumes from different eras – a disarray that is a stage style. See Carl Dahlhaus, Euripides, das absurde Theater und die Oper. Zum Problem der Antikenrezeption in der Musikgeschichte , pp. 199-221.]

[^9: In an interview with Henze on the occasion of the Frankfurt staging of The Bassarids, first published in the Frankfurter Opernhefte on 10 May 1975, Henze recounts that the quotation from Bach's Matthäus-Passion, BWV 244 in The Bassarids was requested by Auden himself. This quotation appears at the end of the Intermezzo when Adonis is dismembered on Mount Lebanus by Mars and then at the end of the opera when Pentheus' body is dismembered. See Henze, Komponist als Interpret , in: Musik und Politik: Schriften und Gespräche 1955–1984, pp. 245-246. There is no trace of Auden’s answer to Henze’s question.]

Then: What does the Gottfried-Benn-Motto: Die Mythe log mean? What is it good for? If you want to keep this Motto (also for an antifascist like me it’s not so funny to have Mr. Benn’s name somehow connected with mine although he was a great poet, and great poets are like children) could you please add some more Mottos from other people that may help to throw light on it all? [Regarding the choice to use a verse by Gottfried Benn as Motto of The Bassarids, see the Introduction to the correspondence.]

Eisermann, my secretary, says ... dass er das Motto ganz schoen und passend finde, wisse aber auch nicht, warum. People living in a world of darkness desperately need your help.

One request: That doll that says Mama could it please not say Mama and just be silent ? Not only that it makes this ridiculous noise, you would probably have to amplify it electrically because my orchestra is very loud, and if you did hear it it would be very disturbing.[^10] Another question: How is the English pronounciation of Persephone and Thyone? [In a letter dated 23 November 1964, Auden had already sent Henze a list of names with an explanation of the correct pronunciations.]

[^10: In the final libretto, in Movement II, a slave girl enters with her own daughter, who is holding a very realistic doll that repeats continuously Mama, Mama. In the final scene of the opera this doll is destroyed.]

In the Intermezzo it says: Amidst the shrubbery, Satyrs (not Sartyrs perhaps?) pursuing Nymphos can be seen. Also Silenus. Obviously these things one sees pointed on the coulisses. I wondered when I wrote it should one not see some of these things in reality (to point out Cytheron even more) ? At the same time I thought the idea is not good, but asking doesn't cost money. [Auden’s response to Henze’s question has yet to be located. Henze permanently eliminated the twenty-minute Intermezzo in 1992.]

Please answer these things very quickly and please do write both a pretty, clear/and short and practical Inhaltsangabe, and also a beautiful and illuminating Essay. [The librettists wrote the texts as requested by Henze. They were printed in the program notes of the Salzburg premiere.]

Privately things are as follows: I had two nervous breakdowns, lost my beautif u l lover [It is likely that Henze is alluding to the end of his relationship with Folker Bohnet], had various Greeks and Schwartze to help the orchestration and am in Berlin at present to conduct another concert[^11] and will then go to Africa to get what I couldn't have all this time – a bit of riposo. [Henze spent his vacations first in Morocco, in Agadir and Marrakesch, and then in Spain, in Madrid. See Henze's Autobiography, p. 209.] I'm completely exhausted and very very old.

[^11: Henze actually conducted the Berliner Philharmoniker in two concerts in Berlin: one on 12 October 1965, in which the premiere of Zwischenspiele (1964) for orchestra, from the opera Der junge Lord , and one on 13 October 1965, in which the premiere of Ein Landarzt (1964), Monodrama for baritone and small orchestra on a text by Franz Kafka took place, with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.]

The performance is scheduled on the 6th August in Salzburg, Grosses Festspielhaus. Everything is extremely difficult and at times very, very complicated. The only positive thing is that Loren Driscoll will sing Dionysus, Kerstin Meyer A g ave, Filippo Sanjust is working on the sketches who represent exactly what is indicated in the libretto. We use Sellner to realize what we tell him (Filippo and I) – he is the only person I can think of who is willing to do so and at the same time powerful enough to manage the most complicated machinery.[^12] Also, he has noimagination and does therefore what he is told, but with authority: That is ideal. He will also make the first performance in Germany with the same cast and the same designer and same conductor (Dohnanyi) in autumn in Berlin. [The German-language premiere of The Bassarids was held at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin on 28 September 1966.] Cologne and Frankfurt will do Western German performances

[^12: Here, Henze refers to the premiere of The Bassarids that actually took place on 6 August 1966 in Salzburg with the performers Loren Driscoll and Kerstin Meyer, the scenic and costume designer Filippo Sanjust and the stage director Gustav Rudolf Sellner. Sketches by Sanjust can be consulted at the Paul Sacher Foundation.]

–3–

[On this second page, Henze writes -3- in the lower left corner as if to anticipate the next page.]

–3–

during winter on the same day. [The Bassarids does not seem to have been performed in Frankfurt or Cologne in 1966-1967. A performance took place in Frankfurt on 11 May 1975.] Frankfurt will use Ruben Ter-Ar u tunian. [Rouben Ter-Arutunian was the stage designer for the USA-Premiere of The Bassarids on 7 September 1968 at the Santa Fé Opera, but there is no trace of a performance of the opera in Frankfurt.] Please let me know what your plans are. I think you should come to the rehearsals. I will let you know the schedules as soon as they are out.

By the way, the thing having become as long as it has become, must probably be given with an interval. Und als er gerade gerade war, da brach er ab, was schade war.

At present, a few days after having completed the work I'm unable to judge it: It may be shit, it may be gold – I just don't know. I intended a capolavoro, anyway. But let's not yet say thank you, only thank God. At present I just hate you both because you have made me suffer so much. Everything akes. Like after a long series of debauchery. I hate to feel I've had a lesson. Have I been analysed ? I cried so much. But what does it all mean ? Please explain the tragedy and all, to me and to the world.

love,