In his essay "Über Instrumentalkomposition" of 1963 Hans Werner Henze states: 'Everything moves toward the theatre and comes back from there. (…) In the orchestral pieces it is visibly close, although the typical of certain traditions of symphonic music is borne in mind.'
Henze's Symphonies Nos. 3, 4 and 5 move within this combination of music theatre and symphonic music. The first approach is noticeable in "Symphony No. 3": 'I composed this piece (…) in an attempt to keep the notion of 'symphonic music' and the idea of classical and Romantic forms separate. Consequently, the listener is not supposed to look for those elements which were characteristic of 19th-century symphonies.'
"Symphony No. 4" is concretely linked with Henze's own music-theatre works: Originally, it constituted the finale of Act II of his opera "König Hirsch".
Even "Symphony No. 5" is connected to the music theatre: A 'leitmotif' appearing in all three movements goes back to Henze's song 'My own, my own' from his opera "Elegie für junge Liebende". As in "Symphony No. 4", the music returns from the stage back to symphonic music.
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