Elegy for Young Lovers

Language german
ISBN 978-3-689-30216-0

On 1 July 2026, Hans Werner Henze would have celebrated his 100th birthday. When his opera Elegy for Young Lovers premiered in May 1961, the composer was not yet 35 years old. Wystan Hugh Auden and Chester Kallman had written a libretto for Henze, which he set to music in the original English. German words are woven into the text, marking subtle differences between British and European sensibilities and ways of thinking.

The opera’s language, staging and music provide humorous entertainment, whilst also featuring passages that are either sarcastically pointed or deeply emotional. Despite the plot being set in the early 20th century, the work can be seen as part of the opera semiseria tradition. Six solo roles drive the action. There is no chorus, but there are ensembles of two to six voices. A chamber orchestra accompanies from the pit.

The starring role, initially intended by the composer for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, is inherently sinister and bizarrely fractured: a poet becomes a murderer in order to complete a poem. A madwoman who produces visionary verses serves as a source of inspiration for the poet in crisis. A young couple, just beginning a happy life together, are left to die of exposure. The piece ends surreally – with a poetry reading consisting solely of vocalises.

In this monograph by musicologist and Henze expert Peter Petersen, the overall course of the opera is presented narratively, with its musical content explained on the basis of the score. In addition, letters from 1960–61 are reprinted and annotated, showing that the three artists held each other in high regard, yet did not always agree on matters of content.