Hans Werner Henze 1926-2012

[+ Charlie]

Henze was a fashionable opera composer for a few decades, during which he composed a number of well received works, including "Boulevard Solitude," "Elegy for Young Lovers," and "The Young Lord." His father was a Nazi, and and young Hans served in the German army as a teenager, spending the last years in a POW camp. He was openly gay for most of his life after World War II, and moved from Germany to Italy because of German homophobia. He was also a Communist, which didn't help in Germany.

 

I was at the world premiere in London of one of his later operas, "We Come to the River," which is still being produced occasionally (I saw it listed somewhere not long ago), as well as the three I mentioned above. It was actually pretty good theater, but I didn't leave humming anything. Perhaps there will be revival of his works now that he has passed.

[uwsman2]

Henze didn't really write very "hummable" music. But he had a good sense for interesting orchestration. His ballet Ondine is worth hearing. He also did a song cycle for Ian Bostridge that turned out rather interesting as well. I think he had been pretty much retired from composition that last few years, as his health was poor.