Letter from H. W. Henze to W. H. Auden, February 15, 1966
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Absolute Chronology
Preceding
- 1965-12-28: to Sacher
- 1966-02-08: from Sacher
Following
- 1966-04-15: to Sacher
- 1966-03-28: from Sacher
z.Zt. Berlin 33
Oberhaardter Weg 45*
Mr.
W.H. Wystan Auden
77, St.Mark’s Place
New York City 3, N.Y. 10003
thanks a lot for your sweet letter.* In a few days I shall send you
the whole German translation of the "Bacchi"
*, than[sic]‡ you can show
it to Elisabeth Meier and other German speaking friends of yours
to get their opinion.
I have been seeing various people of the German world of literature
recently, and they all lamented about the fact that our works are
published so badly in German and no German reader can get an idea
of your potency.and[sic]‡ importance. If only you would inform your
agents that Suhrkamp for instance* would be happy to publish
your opera omnia and instruct them to get into
buissiness‡
‡ with them
things would be taken care of in the best way possible. If you
would only tell me that you were interested in a publication of all
your works by one publisher I would be happy to let the things get
started.
I suffer deeply from the fact that so few people know your works and
I would be very proud if those who cannot read English would at last
be able to get aquainted‡
with you.
Then there is another question: My friend and host here, Wenzel Luedecke,
is a film- producer who is so board‡
with his
buissiness‡
‡ that only
something very exceptional and original would wake him up and inspire
him to produce a new work. Suddenly the idea came to my mind that
you might be the right man to make a movy‡ script which should be
completely up to your imagination and phantasy.* Let alone the money
question. I’m sure, and so is Wenzel, that salvation for the stagnand‡
–2–
film– situation can come only from literature. Also the dialogues
should be done by a poet and not by one of those idiots who usually
do it and fuck everything.
The only afterthought we have is that we would be glad to have
Horst Buchholz and Folker in it. The rest is all up to you.
We have just seen a very good picture made by a completely unknown
fellow who is 25 years old* and seems to have an extraordinary talent
as a director. The thing was "Die Verwirrungen des Zoeglings Toerless"
using the original Musil dialogues.* This might be a chap intelligent
enough to direct something uncommon.
Please let me know your thoughts about this. I’m going to Rome
for a few days end of this month
* and come back to Berlin in
March for another fortnight.
Love,
Editorial
Responsibilities
- Editor(s)
- Elena Minetti
- Transcription
- Elena Minetti; Joachim Veit
Tradition
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Text Source: Basel (Schweiz), Paul Sacher Stiftung (CH-Bps), Sammlung Hans Werner Henze, Abteilung: Korrespondenz
Shelf mark: Auden, Wystan HughPhysical Description
- Document type: Letter
- Durchschlagpapier
- 2 folios
- 2 written pages
- Dimensions: 296x210 [mm] (HxW)
- Gelocht.
- Rand: 3,2 cm
- 1,5zeilig
- Absätze nicht eingerückt
- Leerzeile nach jedem Absatz
Material
Extent
Condition
Layout
Writing styles
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1.Typescript, Henze, Hans Werner.
Text Constitution
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"than"sic
-
"potency.and"sic
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"… them to get into buissiness"This word, written like this twice in this letter, seems not to have been written like this because of a mistyping.
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"… so board with his buissiness"This word, written like this twice in this letter, seems not to have been written like this because of a mistyping.
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"… salvation for the stagnand –2–"Henze wrote the page number both at the bottom of the previous page and at the top of the second page itself.
Commentary
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"… Oberhaardter Weg 45"Henze had been in Berlin since early January 1966 to assist the stage director Gustav Rudolf Sellner and the scenic and costume designer Filippo Sanjust in the preparations for the staging of the premiere of The Bassarids, since it was impossible to prepare the opera in Salzburg where the premiere was to be held, because the Festspielhaus was occupied for a new staging of Carmen conducted by Herbert von Karajan. See Henze’s Autobiography, pp. 211-212 and pp. 208-209.
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"… for your sweet letter ."Auden’s letter to which Henze alludes here is most likely not preserved in the correspondence between Auden and Henze kept at the Paul Sacher Foundation.
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"… German translation of the Bacchi"Initially, Helmut Reinold was commissioned to translate the libretto of The Bassarids into German, but as the correspondence reveals, the three authors were not satisfied with Reinold’s work (the score states that Reinold 'arranged' the text), but that the 'German text version' was by Maria Bosse-Sporleder.
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"… agents that Suhrkamp for instance"The Suhrkamp publishing house does not seem to have published a German translation of any of Auden’s books.
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"buissiness"recte "business".
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"aquainted"recte "acquainted".
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"board"recte "bored".
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"buissiness"recte "business".
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"movy"recte "movie".
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"… to your imagination and phantasy."The project outlined here never came to fruition: Auden apparently never wrote a plot for a film produced by Wenzel Lüdecke.
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"stagnand"recte "stagnant".
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"… who is 25 years old"Actually, Volker Schlöndorff was 27 years old at the time.
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"… using the original Musil dialogues."In 1966, Henze wrote the music for the film Der junge Törless (1966) for the young film director Volker Schlöndorff, based on Robert Musil’s autobiographical novel, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (1906), which established Musil as an important writer. Henze later arranged the soundtrack into the chamber piece Fantasia für Streicher (1966).
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"… days end of this month"In his Autobiography, p. 209, Henze writes that he needed to come back to Rome to conduct the soloists of the Berliner Philharmoniker in a concert with his pieces.
