Rilke and Benvenuta: An Intimate Correspondence

Gathers the correspondence between Rilke and a young Viennese concert pianist who admired his poetry

Rilke confided some of his most intimate thoughts to a woman whom he had never met. Magda von Hattingberg, a Viennese concert pianist, sent him an admiring letter in 1914, and for three months that year the poet, who was separated from his wife, poured out his anguish and yearnings to "Benvenuta" (the Welcome One). In poetic, emotionally charged and frequently overwrought letters, he wrote about the slow growth of his soul, the vast distances that separate lovers, the restorative power of music and his awkwardness and pettiness in personal relationships. Magda's equally fervent letters instilled in him the resolve to work through his near-suicidal despair as he simmered in Paris. Their overheated correspondence, which ended when the two met, offers a rare glimpse into the tormented mind of a poet.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.