HENZE, Hans Werner
b Gutersloh, Westphalia, 1 July 1926

His father was a schoolteacher. In 1942 he went to the State Music School in Brunswick; in 1944 he was conscripted into the Army and was taken prisoner by the British. He became repetiteur with the Bielefeld Municipal Theatre in 1945, and from 1946 continued his musical studies in Heidelberg. In 1950 he was made artistic director and conductor of the ballet of the Wiesbaden State Theatre. Disenchanted with Germany, he moved to Italy; he became a Marxist, and was much preoccupied with Cuban politics. From 1962 to 1966 he gave master-classes at the Sahburg Mozarteum, and from 1969-1970 was teaching and researching in Havana, Cuba; but Rome remained his permanent horn e. In 1971 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of music at Edinburgh University.

1946 (20)

Chamber Concerto for solo piano, solo flute and strings

Sonata for violin and piano

1947 (21)

Symphony No 1, first version

Violin Concerto No 1

Concertino for piano and wind orchestra, with percussion

Five Madrigals for small mixed choir and eleven solo instruments

String Quartet No 1

1948 (22)

Chorus of the Captured Trojans, for mixed choir and large orchestra

The Reproach, concert aria for baritone, trumpet, trombone and string orchestra

Lullaby of the Blessed Virgin, for boys' choir and nine solo instruments

Whispers from Heavenly Death, cantata for high voice and eight solo instruments

The Magic Theater, one-act opera for actors (new version for singers, 1964)

Chamber Sonata for piano, violin and cello (revised 1963)

1949 (23)

Jack Pudding, ballet

Ballet Variations

Symphony No 2

Symphony No 3 (1949-50)

Apollo et Hyazinthus, improvisations for harpsichord, contralto and eight solo instruments

Variations for piano

Serenade for solo cello

1950 (24)

Symphonic Variations, for piano and orchestra

Piano Concerto No 1

Rosa Silber, ballet

1951 (25)

Labyrinth, choreographic fantasy

The Sleeping Princess, ballet

Boulevard Solitude, Lyric drama

A Country Doctor, radio opera (stage version 1964)

1952 (26)

The Idiot, ballet-pantomime

King Stag, opera (1952-5)

Quintet for wind instruments

String Quartet No 2

1953 (27)

Ode to the Westwind, for cello and orchestra

The End of a World, radio opera

1955 (29)

Symphony No 4 (in one movement)

Three Symphonic Studies for orchestra (revised 1964)

Quattro Poemi, for orchestra

1956 (30)

Maratona, ballet

Ondine, ballet (1956-7)

Concerto per il Marigny, for piano and seven instruments

Five Neapolitan Songs for medium voice and chamber orchestra

1957 (31)

Nocturnes and Arias, for soprano and orchestra

Sonata per archi (1957-8)

1958 (32)

Three Dithyrambs, for chamber orchestra

Chamber Music

Der Prinz von homburg, opera

Three Tentos, for guitar

1959 (33)

The Emperor's Nightingale, ballet

Elegy for Young Lovers, opera (1959-61)

Piano Sonata

1960 (34)

Antifone, for orchestra

1961 (35)

Six absences pour le clavecin, for harpsichord

1962 (36)

Symphony No 5

Les Caprices de Marianne, incidental music

Il re cervo (or The Errantries of Truth), opera

Novae de infinito laudes, cantata

1963 (37)

Los Caprichos, fantasia for orchestra

Ariosi, for soprano, violin and orchestra

Adagio, for clarinet, horn, bassoon and string quintet

Lucy Escott Variations, for piano (also for harpsichord)

Being Beauteous, cantata

Cantata della fiaba estrema

1964 (38)

Tancredi, ballet

The Young Lord, comic opera

Choral Fantasy

Divertimenti for two pianos

1965 (39)

The Bassarids, opera

In Memoriam: The White Rose, for chamber orchestra

1966 (40)

Double Concerto for oboe, harp and strings

Fantasia for strings

Muses of Sicily, concerto for choir, two pianos, wind instruments

and timpani

1967 (41)

Piano Concerto No 2

Telemanniana, for orchestra

Moralities, three scenic cantatas for soli, speaker, choir and small orchestra

1968 (42)

Essay on Pigs, for voice and orchestra

The Raft of the 'Medusa', oratorio vulgare e militare in due parti per Che Guevara, for soprano, baritone, speaker, mixed choir with nine boys' voices and orchestra

1969 (43)

Symphony No 6 for two chamber orchestras

Compases (viola concerto)

for viola and twenty-two players (1969-70)

El Cimarron, recital for four musicians (1969-70)

1971 (45)

Violin Concerto No 2

Heliogabalus imperator, for orchestra (1971-2)

Der langwierige Weg in die Wohnung, for orchestra

1973 (47)

La Cubana, a vaudeville

Voices, for two voices and instruments

Tristan, preludes for piano and orchestra

1974-6 (48-50)

We Come to a River, for chorus and orchestra

1975 (49)

Katharina Blum, film score

Ragtimes and Habaneras, for brass band

1975 6 (49-50)

Royal Winter Music, for guitar

String Quartet No 3

1976 (50)

Don Chisciotte, opera

Jephte, oratorio

Violin Sonata

String Quartet No 4

Amicizia, for clarinet, trombone, cello, piano and percussion

1976-7 (50-1)

String Quartet No 5

1977 (51)

Aria de la Bolia Espanola, for chamber orchestra

Il Vitalino Raddoppiato, for violin and chamber orchestra

1980 (54)

Pollicino, opera for children

El Rey de Harlem, Imaginary Theatre I, for solo voice and eight instruments

Barcarola, for orchestra

The Return of Ulysses, after Monteverdi

1981 (55)

The Miracle of the Rose, Imaginary Theatre Il. for clarinet and thirteen players

1983 (57)

Three Auden Songs, for tenor and piano