Henze | Sacher
Image source
Basic data
- Time period:
- 9. February 1952–11. May 1998
- Correspondence partner:
- Bofinger, Ulrich Jörg
- Doufexis, Renate
- Ehrhardt, Kurt
- Friedrich, Götz
- Grob, Helen
- Hanser-Strecker, Peter
- Henze, Hans Werner
- Krein, Toni Jost
- Krähenbühl
- Praetorius, Renate
- Ruzicka, Peter
- Sacher, Maja
- Sacher, Paul
- Salis, Flandrina von
- Smith, Charles Harvey
- Sour, Robert
- Weiss, Alfred
- Deutsche Oper
- Privatklinik Bircher-Benner
- Editor(s):
- Capelle, Irmlind
- Ried, Dennis
Documents
The Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012) and Paul Sacher (1906–1999) Correspondence
Basic information about the correspondence
The correspondence between Paul Sacher and Hans Werner Henze comprises 357 postal documents, of which 179 were written by Sacher and 178 by Henze, with secretaries and other people also occasionally writing on their behalf. The postal documents span the years 1952 to 1998. Additionally there 9 documents preserved. The correspondence language is German, the only exception being a few telegrams written in Italian.
Both parts of the correspondence are preserved at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, Henze’s letters in the Paul Sacher Collection and Sacher’s letters in the Hans Werner Henze Collection.
Writing characteristics of the correspondence partners
As this correspondence was mainly “business” correspondence, it was mostly typewritten. Sacher also stored carbon copies of the letters to Henze in his files from the very beginning, so that the correspondence has been preserved almost in its entirety (and to a large extent both the original and the carbon copy).
However, Henze’s early letters were handwritten, as Henze avoided using a typewriter and was not very good at it. It was only later, when he had secretaries assisting him with his correspondence, that his letters were also predominantly typewritten.
As the correspondence is very complete, references to the immediately preceding and following letters are not always explicitly stated.
Paul Sacher
From the beginning of his correspondence with Henze, Paul Sacher used his own stationery , which was designed by Jan Tschichold, who also worked for the Basel Music Academy (see Jan Tschichold’s estate in the German National Library DBSM.StSlg.NL.Tschichold ). The carbon copies were made on a thin yellow paper.
The typewriter Sacher and his secretaries used did not have a “1” for a long time, which is why this was replaced by an “l”. As a rule, double spaces were inserted after sentence-ending characters such as periods, question marks and exclamation marks. As was customary in Switzerland, no “ß” was used.
On typewritten letters, and therefore also on carbon copies, the address to which the letter was sent is always noted at the bottom of the page.
Only Sacher’s very “private” letters are handwritten. They were written with a fountain pen in his rather large and characteristic but legible handwriting. Sacher always used an “&” for “and”. The ink used is blue with a clear hint of purple.
Hans Werner Henze
The evolution of Henze’s handwriting can be easily traced over the long period covered by the correspondence. As described in the introductions to other sets of his correspondence, this includes the progression from a normal cursive script to often unconnected letters (that look like block letters) and wide spacing between the words that characterized his later hand writing. In the early years, Henze used a capital “I” as a “J” (incidentally, he also did this in his typewritten letters), the “I” later becoming a Roman “1”. He also went from using standard upper/lower case letters to a uniform lower case, in which only the salutations and names were capitalized. In his late years (1990s), Henze returned to normal spelling and grammar rules.
In the beginning, Henze often wrote with a fountain pen, later also using a ballpoint pen and then for many years a felt-tip pen, often a so-called fineliner. But at the end of March 1997 he lamented:
When Henze himself used the typewriter in the early years, there are quite a lot of corrections (typewritten or handwritten) and usually no spaces after punctuation marks.
Henze did not use personal stationery until 1962, after he had taken up permanent residence in Castelgandolfo. In Marino, the address printed on the paper changed over the years, but the mostly thin, light-blue colored paper remained constant. However, Henze also owned a different light-colored paper (both papers in at least two sizes), as well as simple and folded cards with his address print on them. Henze occasionally wrote crosswise on his stationary (see the material description), resulting in unusually long lines of text.
Projects (concerts) and commissioned compositions mentioned in greater detail in the correspondence
In contrast to the other sets of correspondence published on the “Henze digital” portal to date, the Henze-Sacher correspondence was not triggered by work on joint projects, but the result of Sacher’s patronage. For this reason, different headings are listed below compared to the other correspondence. The dates given in brackets indicate the period in which the event is mentioned in the correspondence rather than, in the case of compositions, when a particular work was written.
Henze as Conductor
Henze as guest conductor of the Collegium Musicum Zürich and Basel Chamber Orchestra
- Zurich: December 7, 1956 (1955 – December 1956)
- Zurich: December 14, 1962 (April 1962 – December 1962)
- Zurich: October 17, 1975 (with Concerto for Contrabasso) (December 1967, February 1975 – October 1975)
- [Basel: planned concerto with “Eroica” und Heliogabalus (Nov. 1975)]
- [concertos at the beginning of Januar 1981: Zurich (January 2–7, Tonhalle-Orchester), Basel (January 7–10) correspondence: December 1980]
- Zurich: January 30, 1983 (canceled) (Mid of December 1981– September 08, 1982)
- Zurich: January 14, 1984 (= „replacement“ for January 1983) (October 1982 – January 1984)
- Basel: October 25, 1985 (BKO + Basler Sinfonie-Orchester) (December 22, 1982 – Oktober 1985 )
- Zurich: March 23, 1987 (not carried out) (December 20, 1985)
Henze as composer
Commissioned compositions and compositions dedicated to Paul Sacher
- “Sonata per archi” (1957/1958), Premiere: Zurich March 21, 1958 (May 1957 – August 1958)
- “Cantata della fiaba estrema” (1963), Premiere: Zurich 26. February 1965, Basel: May 12-13, 1966. (January 1964 – September 1966)
- Doppio Concerto for harp and oboe (1966), Premiere: Zurich December 2, 1966 (25th annicersary of CMZ) (November 1964, March 1965 – December 1966 and May 1967 – July 1968)
- “Compases para preguntas ensimismadas” (1969/70), Premiere: Basel February 11–12, 1971 (November 27, 1968 – February 1971)
- 2nd Violin Concerto, Premiere: Basel November 2–3, 1972 (February 14, 1971 – February 1973)
- [Commission Januar 1984: “Ode an eine Äolsharfe” [composed for Lucerne, but sponsored by Paul Sacher] (January 16, 1984 – February 1985, October 24, 1986)]
- 10th Symphony, Premiere: Lucerne August 17, 2002 (February 1998 – 2000)
Planned commissioned compositions, never finally performed
- Egyptian Poems for Ingeborg Hallstein: Work with Solo Soprano (May/June 1966)
- December 27, 1966: new commission planned; Henze mentions 3 possibilities (Song Cycle – Shakespeare-Sonets – for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Klavierkonzert, “Les follies d’Espagne”), the Shakespeare-Sonets were quite long in discussion Shakespeare-Sonette (1966, Nov. 1968/1969)
- February 1975: Work for percussion and orchestra (February – November 1975)
Compositions written for Paul Sacher’s birthdays
- Capriccio (1st version) (1976), last version 1981 (only mentioned November 1976, May 1981)
- Abendmusik für einen alten Freund (1996)
Other commissioned compositions with Paul Sacher as intermediary
- “Six Absences” for Antoinette Vischer 1961 (November 1960 – April 1961)
- Commission for Donaueschingen 1963 (Juli 1962)