FOREIGN RIGHTS AUTUMN 2013 - Hanser Literaturverlage

M U S I C
The story of a unique affection that unfolds
in letters between the 44-year-old composer
and his niece, 27 years his junior.
Following the premiere of his opera Dantons Tod at the Salzburg Festival in 1947, Gottfried
von Einem became one of the most prominent post-war composers. But the sudden death
of his first wife, Lianne von Bismarck, in early 1962 shook him to the core. Two years
before his wife died, Gottfried had won the affection of his niece, Andrea Liebrecht, who
was fifteen at the time. Now, in April 1962, he confesses his love to the seventeen-year-old
girl. What follows is a torrent of passion which descends on the young woman in the form
of an inundation of love letters. Von Einem writes her up to four letters a day, suggesting
what books she should read and what music she should listen to, and cajoling her to reply
and to meet him.
Gottfried von Einem
“Du und ich sind ein Einfall“
Briefe an Andrea
“You and I are Pure Inspiration”
– Letters to Andrea
Edited by Andrea
von Wiedebach
Includes a conversation
between Andrea von Wiedebach
and Caspar Einem
Zsolnay Verlag
Letters. 400 pages with
illustrations. Hardcover
Publication date:
September 2013
For more than three years – up until 1965, when he meets his second wife, the writer Lotte
Ingrisch – he courts Andrea in a positively obsessive manner. She in turn feels at once
pressurized and flattered; the letters had a profound effect on her. Gottfried von Einem
granted Andrea Weidebach (née Liebrecht) the license to publish these letters and left
the timing up to her. Now this amour fou is available in book form – the testament to a
mysterious passion.
Gottfried von Einem
born in Bern in 1918 and
died in Oberdürnbach, Lower
Austria in 1996. After living
for some time in Bayreuth
and Dresden, he moved to
Austria in 1946. From 1948
until 1951 he was a member
of the board of directors of
the Arts Council of the Salzburg
Festival, and headed
it from 1955.
Andrea von Wiedebach
born in 1948 in Thüringen:
She worked as an orthopist
and later as a special
teacher for the visually
impaired. She now lives
in the Oberlausitz region,
Germany.
N O N - F I C T I O N 16
F O R E I G N R I G H T S HANSER