Hans Werner Henze

Composer of Our Time

Portrait, Munich 1986

List of Works

The complete œuvre 1943 - 2012

List of events

since October 2013

Publications

Books, CDs, DVDs

La Leprara

A casa di Hans

Studienarbeit
Technische Universität Dortmund
Fachbereich Musik

GRIN-Verlag, München 2024, 36 S.

In a series of concerts, conductor Marco Angius performed and recorded three pieces by Henze with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and three emerging soloists. These pieces are "reinventions", i.e. instrumentations, orchestrations and variations of compositions by great masters of the 18th century.

The monumental painting "The Raft of the Medusa" by Théodore Géricault has repeatedly inspired artists to artistically process the tragedy on which the painting is based, including Hans Werner Henze and his librettist Ernst Schnabel. Sharp sounds, biting irony, onomatopoeia and a gripping dramaturgy characterize the work, which rose to the ranks of the great classical scandalous works due to an uproar at the failed premiere. Cornelius Meister brought the "Oratorio volgare e militare in due part" to the stage of the Vienna Konzerthaus in November 2017 with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna.

The website of the Hans Werner Henze Foundation was launched in September 2013 and, after years of work, is now experiencing a major update with a completely revised design and many new, previously unpublished articles, information about Hans Werner Henze and the Foundation's work, as well as an extensive picture gallery.

A collaboration with the Gustav Mahler Research Centre in Toblach and the musicology department of the University of Innsbruck began in 2019: A composition workshop was set up under the direction of institute director Federico Celestini and composer Stefan Hakenberg, inspired by Henze's similar initiatives in Montepulciano, Deutschlandsberg and Munich.

Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012) is considered one of the most important contemporary German opera composers as well as "the most colourful figures in the history of musical art after the Second World War" (Petersen 1988). In autobiographical writings and interviews, in addition to the political-humanitarian and pedagogical dimensions of his works, he repeatedly stated that he understood music as a language for communicating with the audience. Being understood was an essential concern for him, committed to the "historical topos of the linguistic nature of music" (Tumat/Zywietz 2019). His literary work, largely serving to explain his music, also bears eloquent witness to the fact.

Ingeborg Bachmann wrote "Die Zikaden" in 1955, when she was just 29 years old. It was her first radio play for the NWDR in Hamburg. The music was composed by Hans Werner Henze.

Dedication by Rainer Pöllmann on the 10th anniversary of Hans Werner Henze's death on 27 October 2022 on Deutschlandfunk Kultur

Michael Struck-Schloen in conversation with Prof. Dr. Antje Tumat, Foundation council of the Hans Werner Henze Foundation

Event-highlights

Thursday
04
April 2024
Auditorium RAI "Arturo Toscanini" · Turin · Italien

Il Vitalino raddoppiato

Orchestra Nazionale della RAI Torino
Violine: Anna Tifu
Dirigent: Marco Angius

Il Vitalino raddoppiato
Friday
26
April 2024
Teatro Politeama · Palermo · Italien

Richard Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder

Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana
Alt: Adriana Di Paola
Dirigent: Marco Angius

Richard Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder

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