New Folk Songs and Pastorals (Neue Volkslieder und Hirtengesänge)

Hans Werner Henze

Composer of our Time

For bassoon, guitar and string trio

Year of composition 1996
Original version 1983
Duration 15 minutes

World premiere 15. December 1997

Berlin • Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie

Scharoun-Ensemble

The idea for this music is closely connected with my work of cultural animation in some smaller towns in Styria/Austria. At the time I had made a good amount of sketches about Styrian folklore (which, by the way, I liked a lot) and had composed songs for an amateur play written by young artisticly ambitioned local people. Out of these and similar materials I have compiled this little folky chamber music, hoping to keep in mind some of the atmosphere, the humour of this melancholic country, like a dream or a bitter memory.

Hans Werner Henze

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