Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze was born on July 1st, 1926, and received his earliest musical training in the midst of the National Socialist's rise to power in Germany. His favourite works of music, art, and literature were spurned by the Nazis. Years later, this fact would decidedly shape his compositional output, as it intensified his belief in art's inherent potential to be subversive. Following World War II, Henze began his studies with Wolfgang Fortner, during which he completed his first canonical works. His early works were composed in an elegant neo-classical style, and contained the marked influence of composers such as Hindemith and Stravinsky. Henze's distinct lyrical power was already evident in these pieces, and has persisted throughout the various compositional periods of his life.
In the late 1940s, Hans Werner Henze became acquainted with both the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt and the concept of serialism. Henze was unique among his contemporaries; influenced by serialism but not a purist, he incorporated serialistic elements into his already established neo-classical style. This synthesis of compositional styles is first evident in his violin concerto from 1947, and can also be heard in his first opera, Boulevard Solitude (1951).
Henze left Germany for Italy in 1953, entering into a whole new cultural circle that would profoundly influenced his music, bringing to it new colours and increased expressiveness. The impact that this move had on his music is observable through the operas he would compose over the next ten years, beginning with König Hirsch (1953-56). Other examples from this period include: Elegie für junge Liebende (1959-61) and Die Bassariden (1964/65), both based on librettos from W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman, as well as the cantatas Novae de infinito laudes (1962) and Being Beauteous (1963).
In the second half of the 1960s, Henze began searching for ways to express radical political ideas through his music. Abrupt musical gestures and a more repressed lyricism entered into his compositional style, evident in works such as Das Floß der Medusa (1968), Sinfonia Nr. 6 (1969), and the recital for baritone and four musicians, El Cimarrón (1969/70). The culmination of Henze's political compositions came in the early 1970s, with the song cycle Voices - Stimmen (1973) and the opera We Come to the River. This work, which Henze did not label as an opera but instead as "actions for music," featured a libretto by Edward Bond and was premiered in London at the Covent Garden Opera in 1976.
Following We Come to the River, Henze returned to more traditional musical forms. In the late 70s and early 80s, he composed three string quartets, his Seventh Symphony, and the satirical opera The English Cat, also featuring a libretto by Edward Bond. With the opera Das verratene Meer (1986-1989), based on a novel by Yukio Mishima, Henze returned to the through-compositional operatic style characteristic of his work from the early 1960s. The opera was also greatly influenced by his 1981 reconstruction of Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.
In the early 90s, Henze dedicated himself to writing his Requiem (1990-91), a piece he wrote in memory of Michael Vyner, the former director of the London Sinfonietta. The work follows the nine traditional Propers of the requiem mass, but is unconventional in that it is devoid of voices. The Nine Sacred Concertos, as Henze titled them, were written for piano solo, trumpet concertante, and chamber orchestra. The Requiem was first performed in its entirety in 1993. Henze's Eighth Symphony received its world premiere in the same year, performed by the Boston Symphony under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. In January, 1997, Venus und Adonis premiered at the Bavarian State Opera. That same November, the Berlin Philharmonic performed his Ninth Symphony under Ingo Metzmacher.
In 1999, Henze began work on his Tenth Symphony, which was world premiered in 2002 at the Lucerne Festival under Sir Simon Rattle. He subsequently began work on his opera L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe (The Hoopoe and the Triumph of Filial Love), which was world premiered in 2003 at the Salzburger Festspielen with great success. The opera has been produced frequently since then at opera houses such as the Teatro Real Madrid, the Opéra de Lyon, the State Opera Hamburg, and the Semperoper in Dresden.
Hans Werner Henze has received countless awards. He holds the privileged title of first-ever composer-in-residence for the Berlin Philharmonic, and was twice composer-in-residence at the Tanglewood Festival. In December, 2005, his orchestral work Sebastian im Traum was premiered by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. In September, 2007, his opera Phaedra was staged by Peter Mussbach for the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and world premiered by the Ensemble Modern. Performances of the opera in Brussels, Frankfurt am Main, and Vienna followed. He was commissioned by the Gewandhaus Leipzig to write Elogium amatissimi amici nunc remote. He dedicated the piece in memory of his life partner and it was premiered in the autumn of 2008 by Riccardo Chailly, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the MDR Choir. Henze's most recent orchestral work, Immolazione, received its world premiere in January, 2010, with the Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the direction of Antonio Pappano.
The Henze Project, part of the RUHR.2010 festivities celebrating the region‘s status as cultural capital of Europe 2010, was possibly the biggest showcase ever of a living composer‘s work. Over 200 performances of Henze‘s works took place in the region over the course of 2010. The highlight of the project was the world premiere of Henze‘s new youth opera Gisela in September. The opera was commissioned by RUHR.2010 BmbH and the Semperoper Dresden. Follow-up performances took place at the RuhrTriennale in the Zeche Zweckel in Gladbeck and in the Semperoper Dresden.
In May 2012, Henze‘s latest work entitled An den Wind, a work for mixed choir and instruments for Whitsun, will have its world premiere at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig performed by the St. Thomas Boys Choir conducted by Georg Christoph Biller.
In the late 1940s, Hans Werner Henze became acquainted with both the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt and the concept of serialism. Henze was unique among his contemporaries; influenced by serialism but not a purist, he incorporated serialistic elements into his already established neo-classical style. This synthesis of compositional styles is first evident in his violin concerto from 1947, and can also be heard in his first opera, Boulevard Solitude (1951).
Henze left Germany for Italy in 1953, entering into a whole new cultural circle that would profoundly influenced his music, bringing to it new colours and increased expressiveness. The impact that this move had on his music is observable through the operas he would compose over the next ten years, beginning with König Hirsch (1953-56). Other examples from this period include: Elegie für junge Liebende (1959-61) and Die Bassariden (1964/65), both based on librettos from W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman, as well as the cantatas Novae de infinito laudes (1962) and Being Beauteous (1963).
In the second half of the 1960s, Henze began searching for ways to express radical political ideas through his music. Abrupt musical gestures and a more repressed lyricism entered into his compositional style, evident in works such as Das Floß der Medusa (1968), Sinfonia Nr. 6 (1969), and the recital for baritone and four musicians, El Cimarrón (1969/70). The culmination of Henze's political compositions came in the early 1970s, with the song cycle Voices - Stimmen (1973) and the opera We Come to the River. This work, which Henze did not label as an opera but instead as "actions for music," featured a libretto by Edward Bond and was premiered in London at the Covent Garden Opera in 1976.
Following We Come to the River, Henze returned to more traditional musical forms. In the late 70s and early 80s, he composed three string quartets, his Seventh Symphony, and the satirical opera The English Cat, also featuring a libretto by Edward Bond. With the opera Das verratene Meer (1986-1989), based on a novel by Yukio Mishima, Henze returned to the through-compositional operatic style characteristic of his work from the early 1960s. The opera was also greatly influenced by his 1981 reconstruction of Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.
In the early 90s, Henze dedicated himself to writing his Requiem (1990-91), a piece he wrote in memory of Michael Vyner, the former director of the London Sinfonietta. The work follows the nine traditional Propers of the requiem mass, but is unconventional in that it is devoid of voices. The Nine Sacred Concertos, as Henze titled them, were written for piano solo, trumpet concertante, and chamber orchestra. The Requiem was first performed in its entirety in 1993. Henze's Eighth Symphony received its world premiere in the same year, performed by the Boston Symphony under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. In January, 1997, Venus und Adonis premiered at the Bavarian State Opera. That same November, the Berlin Philharmonic performed his Ninth Symphony under Ingo Metzmacher.
In 1999, Henze began work on his Tenth Symphony, which was world premiered in 2002 at the Lucerne Festival under Sir Simon Rattle. He subsequently began work on his opera L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe (The Hoopoe and the Triumph of Filial Love), which was world premiered in 2003 at the Salzburger Festspielen with great success. The opera has been produced frequently since then at opera houses such as the Teatro Real Madrid, the Opéra de Lyon, the State Opera Hamburg, and the Semperoper in Dresden.
Hans Werner Henze has received countless awards. He holds the privileged title of first-ever composer-in-residence for the Berlin Philharmonic, and was twice composer-in-residence at the Tanglewood Festival. In December, 2005, his orchestral work Sebastian im Traum was premiered by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. In September, 2007, his opera Phaedra was staged by Peter Mussbach for the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and world premiered by the Ensemble Modern. Performances of the opera in Brussels, Frankfurt am Main, and Vienna followed. He was commissioned by the Gewandhaus Leipzig to write Elogium amatissimi amici nunc remote. He dedicated the piece in memory of his life partner and it was premiered in the autumn of 2008 by Riccardo Chailly, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the MDR Choir. Henze's most recent orchestral work, Immolazione, received its world premiere in January, 2010, with the Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the direction of Antonio Pappano.
The Henze Project, part of the RUHR.2010 festivities celebrating the region‘s status as cultural capital of Europe 2010, was possibly the biggest showcase ever of a living composer‘s work. Over 200 performances of Henze‘s works took place in the region over the course of 2010. The highlight of the project was the world premiere of Henze‘s new youth opera Gisela in September. The opera was commissioned by RUHR.2010 BmbH and the Semperoper Dresden. Follow-up performances took place at the RuhrTriennale in the Zeche Zweckel in Gladbeck and in the Semperoper Dresden.
In May 2012, Henze‘s latest work entitled An den Wind, a work for mixed choir and instruments for Whitsun, will have its world premiere at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig performed by the St. Thomas Boys Choir conducted by Georg Christoph Biller.
Foto: Karsten Witt