Henze, Hans Werner (häns ver'nur hen'tsu) [key], 1926–, German composer, b. Gütersloh. Henze was a pupil of Wolfgang Fortner and René Leibowitz. His early works were influenced by Stravinsky, Hindemith, and Bartók. 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). 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'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).
