Henze, Hans Werner (häns vĕr`nər hĕn`tsə), 1926–, German composer, b. Gütersloh. Henze was a pupil of Wolfgang Fortner and René Leibowitz. His early works were influenced by Stravinsky Stravinsky, Igor Fedorovich (ē`gər fyô`dərô'vyĭch strəvĭn`skē)
..... Click the link for more information. , Hindemith Hindemith, Paul (hĭn`dəmĭth), 1895–1963, German-American composer and violist, b. Hanau, Germany.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Bartók Bartók, Béla (bā`lə bär`tŏk, Hung.
..... Click the link for more information. . In his first violin concerto (1947) he took up twelve-tone writing, but he has not confined himself to that method (see also serial music serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—that constitute the equal-tempered scale.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Henze's leftist politics of the 1960s and 70s are manifested in works such as the oratorio The Raft of the Frigate "Medusa" (1968) and the Essay on Pigs for baritone and chamber orchestra (1969). He has also written ten symphonies, the ninth of which (1997) is a choral work about Nazi terror based on Anna Seghers Seghers, Anna (ä`nä sēgərs), 1900–1983, German novelist, whose original name was Netty Reiling Rádvanyi.
..... Click the link for more information. 's The Third Cross. Among his other compositions are concertos for various instruments and several operas including Elegy for Young Lovers (1961) and The Bassarids (1965), both to texts by W. H. Auden, The Young Lord (1965), and English Cat (1983).

Bibliography

See his autobiography, Bohemian Fifths (1995).

Henze, Hans Werner

(born July 1, 1926, Gütersloh, Ger.) German-Italian composer. He studied with Wolfgang Fortner (1907–87) and later with René Leibowitz (1913–72). After an early association with the avant-garde at Darmstadt under Leibowitz's influence, the more traditional grounding received from Fortner reasserted itself. He moved permanently to Italy in 1953. He is best known for his operas, which include Der König Hirsch (1955), Elegy for Young Lovers (1961), Der junge Lord (1964), and The Bassarids (1965). He also wrote numerous major symphonies and concertos. His longtime commitment to Marxism expressed itself in many of his works. Though never known widely in the U.S., in Europe Henze is considered one of the major composers of the later 20th century.