Elegy for Young Lovers — World Premiere Archive, Schloss Schwetzingen
Schwetzingen / Mainz / Boston: Schwetzinger Festspiele / Schott / Christian Science Monitor, 1961.
Remarkble archive of eight items documenting the world premiere (Uraufführung) of Hans Werner Henze's opera Elegy for Young Lovers (Elegie für junge Liebende), libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman, performed May 20, 1961, Rokokotheater, Schloss Schwetzingen, by a visiting cast from the Bavarian State Opera. Cast headed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the poet Gregor Mittenhofer; Karl Christian Kohn as Dr. Wilhelm Reischmann; Friedrich Lenz as Toni Reischmann; Ingeborg Bremert as Elisabeth Zimmer; Lilian Benningsen as Carolina Gräfin von Kirchstetten/Sekretärin; Eva-Maria Rogner as Hilda Mack; Hubert Hilten as Joseph Maurer. Score played by the Southwest German Radio Orchestra under Heinrich Bender; staging by Hans Werner Henze. Assembled by Dr. Carl Johnson (1931–2016), American composer, Fulbright Scholar and Artist in Residence in Composition in Berlin, and freelance critic for the Christian Science Monitor, who attended the premiere in an official press capacity.
CONTENTS:
(1) Press ticket (Pressekarte No. 05), Schwetzinger Festspiele 1961, Samstag 20. Mai, 20 Uhr, Im Rokokotheater, Parterre Loge 3 rechts, DM 18, stamped PRESSEKARTE. 3" x 3". Very good.
(2) Festival program booklet, Schloss Schwetzingen 1961, 19. Mai – 11. Juni, published by Die Schwetzinger Festspiele GmbH in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Süddeutschen Rundfunk; Gesamtleitung Dr. Peter Kehm; Künstlerischer Beirat Willy Grüb. A substantial season book for the festival's tenth anniversary season, with contextual essay on the Anglo-German theme of the 1961 programming. Contains eight tipped-in portrait photographs with facsimile signatures of the principal contributors to the season, including Hans Werner Henze, W.H. Auden, Chester Kallman, and Benjamin Britten. 8.25" x 4.75". 42pp. Overall Good+ with foxing, creases, and a neat tear to cover wraps at base of spine.
(3) Complete season Program insert, Schloss Schwetzingen 1961, Schwetzinger Festspiele GmbH in Verbindung mit dem Süddeutschen Rundfunk; a stapled booklet listing all performances May 19 – June 11, including the Elegy for Young Lovers premiere (May 20, 22, 24) with full cast, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, London Wind Quintet, Deller Consort London, Die Lästerschule (Renaissance-Theater Berlin), Der Barbier von Sevilla (Komische Oper Berlin), and Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream performed by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden / English Opera Group with Peter Pears, conducted by Meredith Davies and directed by John Gielgud (June 8, 10, 11). The rear page of the insert bear Johnson's autograph working notes in pencil in English, written during or immediately after the Henze premiere: "Henze's own Regisseur"; "last scene 2nd act"; "drama worthwhile"; "emotions"; "no set Acts I, II"; "music schön"; and additional fragmentary remarks on the spoken jazz piano and harp textures. These pre-review notes are the raw critical material that informed the typescript review. 8" x 4.5". 16pp. Very good.
(4) Original typescript review by Carl Johnson, three pages carbon copy, dateline "Heidelberg," signed in ink: "Carl Johnson / Freiburg in Breisgau / Gartenstrasse 30 / Germany," with submission note: "Editors: Please feel free to use this article in your columns if you so desire." Detailed eyewitness critical account: praises Fischer-Dieskau's vocal mastery while noting he is "too much of a gentleman" to fully convey the poet's selfishness and duplicity; singles out Eva-Maria Rogner's coloratura as Hilda Mack and Lilian Benningsen's performance as the most convincing acting of the evening; critiques Henze's own staging, citing H.H. Stuckenschmidt's notice in the Frankfurter Allgemeine. Three 8" x 11" pages held together by rusted paper clip. Overall very good with some folds and creases.
(5) Rejection letter, Christian Science Monitor, one page typed letter signed on CSM Editorial Department letterhead (One Norway Street, Boston), June 7, 1961, signed by Harold Rogers, Assistant Arts-Entertainment Editor; returns Johnson's Elegy review due to overloaded copy log while requesting to hold his review of the Milan premiere of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream — a work which, as the season Program (item 3) confirms, Johnson also saw performed at Schwetzingen by the Royal Opera House company in the same festival weeks. One 8.5"x11" page. Very good.
(6) Schott Kurier Nr. 9, 1. Jahrgang, Mainz, 1. Juni 1961. Mitteilungen der Bühnenverlage B. Schott's Söhne und Schott & Co. Ltd. Broadsheet newsletter, folded, printed both sides. Lead feature: "Hans Werner Henzes neue Oper — 'Elegie für junge Liebende' — Glanzvolle Uraufführung am 20. Mai im Rokokotheater in Schwetzingen," with scene photograph (credit Winkler-Betzendahl), full cast list, and extended critical notices from H.H. Stuckenschmidt (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), K.H. Ruppel (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Werner Oehlmann (Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin), Klaus Geitel (Die Welt, Hamburg), and Claude Rostand (Le Monde, Paris). Includes advertisement for the Studienpartitur (study score, Edition 5040) and forthcoming Klavierauszug (vocal score, Edition 5100). Lists upcoming productions including the Glyndebourne premiere (July 13, 1961, directed Günther Rennert, conducted John Pritchard, with André Turp as Mittenhofer and Dorothy Dorow as Hilda) and Munich, Bielefeld, and Oldenburg productions. Verso carries full Premieren listing of Schott premieres worldwide, feature on Hermann Scherchen's 70th birthday, coverage of Carl Orff's Oedipus Austrian premiere in Vienna, and Zagreb Biennale report. 16.25" x 11.5". 4pp. Very good with folded creases.
(7) TIME Magazine, June 2, 1961, p. 54, tearsheet, "Surprise at Schwetzingen," with photographs of Henze and Fischer-Dieskau; together with German-language newspaper review, "Elegie zwischen Literatur und Musik — Die Schwetzinger Henze-Uraufführung," with portrait photograph of Fischer-Dieskau.
(8) Photograph of Carl Johnson, black and white headshot (5"x 3.5") mounted to folded paper with red ink annotations. Mounting paper dampstained but photograph itself is well preserved and in very good condition.
Taken together, this collection of items offers a rare and intimate record of a significant moment in postwar opera history, documented from the inside by an American critic with a press ticket, a pencil, and something to say about what he experienced. Very good. Item #17664
Price: $750.00