Chester Simon Kallman(January 7, 1921 – January 18, 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for collaborating withW. H. Audenon opera librettos forIgor Stravinskyand othercomposers.
Chester Kallman | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 7, 1921 Brooklyn,New York City,U.S. |
| Died | January 18, 1975(aged 54) Athens,Greece |
| Education | Brooklyn College University of Michigan |
Life
editKallman was born inBrooklynofAshkenaziJewishancestry. He received his B.A. atBrooklyn Collegeand his M.A. at theUniversity of Michigan.He published three collections of poems,Storm at Castelfranco(1956),Absent and Present(1963), andThe Sense of Occasion(1971). He lived most of his adult life in New York, spending his summers in Italy from 1948 through 1957 and inAustriafrom 1958 through 1974.
In 1963 he moved his winter home fromNew YorktoAthens,Greece. He died there of a heart attack on January 18, 1975, eleven days after his 54th birthday.[1]His funeral, in the third Jewish cemetery ofAthens,was attended by some of his closest friends and colleagues, such asJames Merrill,David Jackson, Tony Parigory, Nelly Liambey, Bernie Winebaum,Rachel HadasandAlan Ansen.[2] Kallman had been the beneficiary of the entirety of Auden's estate, but himself diedintestate,with the result that the estate was inherited by his next-of-kin, his father, Edward Kallman (1892–1986), a New York dentist in his eighties.[3]
Career
editTogether with his lifelong friend (and sometime lover[4])W. H. Auden,Kallman wrote the libretto forStravinsky'sThe Rake's Progress(1951). They also collaborated on two librettos forHans Werner Henze,Elegy for Young Lovers(1961) andThe Bassarids(1966), and on the libretto ofLove's Labour's Lost(based on Shakespeare's play) forNicolas Nabokov(1973). Additionally, they wrote the libretto "Delia, or, A Masque of Night" (1953), intended forStravinskybut never set to music. They were commissioned to write the lyrics forMan of La Mancha,but Kallman did no work on the project, and the producers decided against using Auden's contributions.
Kallman was the sole author of the libretto ofThe Tuscan PlayersforCarlos Chávez(1953, first performed in 1957 asPanfilo and Lauretta).
He and Auden collaborated on a number of libretto translations, notablyThe Magic Flute(1956) andDon Giovanni(1961). Kallman also translated Verdi'sFalstaff(1954), Monteverdi'sThe Coronation of Poppea(1954) and many other operas.
Bibliography
edit- Poems
- An Elegy(1951). New York: Tibor de Nagy Gallery. (pamphlet poem)
- Storm at Castelfranco(1956). New York: Grove Press.
- Absent and Present: poems(1963). Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
- The Sense of Occasion: poems(1971). New York: George Braziller.
- Address: To Yannis Boras(1969). N.P.: Galatia P. 'Arditsoglou.
- Libretti
- The Rake's Progress(1951, withW. H. Auden,for music byIgor Stravinsky) New York: Boosey & Hawkes.
- Delia, or A Masque of Night(1953, withW. H. Auden;published inBotteghe OscureXII; never set to music)
- Elegy for Young Lovers(1961, withW. H. Auden,for music byHans Werner Henze).Mainz:B. Schott's Söhne.
- Love Propitiated(pbd. 1963, for music byCarlos Chavez;first performed asPanfilo and Lauretta,1957, then asLove Propitated,1961). New York: Mills Music.
- The Bassarids(1966, with W. H. Auden, for music by Hans Werner Henze). Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne.
- Love's Labour's Lost(1973, with W. H. Auden, for music by Nicolas Nabokov). Berlin: Bote & Bock.
- Translations (published)
- Bluebeard's Castle(1952; translation of the libretto byBéla Balázsfor the opera byBéla Bartók). New York: Boosey & Hawkes
- Falstaff(1954; translation of the libretto of the opera by ArrigoBoito). New York: G. Ricordi.
- The Magic Flute(1956, withW. H. Auden,translation of the libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder for an NBC Opera Theatre production of the opera byMozart). New York: Random House.
- Anne Boleyn(1959; translation of the libretto by Felice Romani for the opera byDonizetti). New York: G. Ricordi.
- The Prize Fight(1959; translation of the libretto by Luciano Conosciani forVieri Tosatti's operaPartita a Pugni). Milan: Ricordi.
- Don Giovanni(1961, withW. H. Auden,translation of the libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte for an NBC Opera Theatre production of the opera byMozart). New York: Schirmer.
- The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,translation of the libretto byBertolt Brechtfor the opera by Kurt Weill. (pbd. 1976, with W. H. Auden). Boston: David Godine.
- Arcifanfano, King of Fools(pbd. with a recording, 1992, withW. H. Auden,translation of the libretto by Carlo Goldoni for the opera byCarl Ditters von Dittersdorf).
- Editions
- An Elizabethan Song Book(1955, withW. H. AudenandNoah Greenberg). New York: Anchor Books.
References
edit- ^ "Chester Kallman, Poet, Is Dead; Writer of Librettos with Auden".The New York Times.January 19, 1975.RetrievedMay 8,2021.
- ^Hammer, Langdon (14 April 2015).James Merrill Life and Art.Alfred A. Knopf. p. 648.ISBN0375413332.
- ^Price, Reynolds (12 May 2009).Ardent Spirits: Leaving Home, Coming Back.Scribner Book Company. p. 141.ISBN978-0743291897.Retrieved1 June2015.
- ^Mendelson, Edward(1999).Later Auden.New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp.46.ISBN0-374-18408-9.
Sources
edit- Humphrey Carpenter,W. H. Auden: A Biography(1981).
- W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman,Libretti and Other Dramatic Writings by W. H. Auden(1988), ed. byEdward Mendelson.
- Dorothy J. Farnan,Auden in Love(1984)
- Thekla Clark,Wystan and Chester(1995).
- Richard Davenport-Hines,Auden(1996)
External links
edit- "The W. H. Auden Society: news, links, books, notes, etc".Retrieved2007-01-21.
- W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman letters to Irving and Anne Weiss, 1940s-2000,held by the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature,New York Public Library.
