Henze - Symphony No. 3 (1950)

Hans Werner Henze's 3rd Symphony is scored for large orchestra, including 4 percussionists, piano, celesta and harp.
It is in three movements:
1. Anrufung Apolls (Invocation of Apollo)
2. Dithyrambe (Dithyramb)
3. Beschwörungstanz (Incantation Dance)
Henze himself said that the symphony is an attempt to "separate the term "symphony" from the idea of Classical or Romantic forms." and has a "thoroughly Pagan atmosphere".
Live performance by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marek Janowski on 16 February 2010.
"Henze's Third Symphony is one of the most overtly programmatic of his symphonies; the three movements are entitled "Invocation of Apollo," Dithyramb," and "Dance of Conjuration." This seems logical when one considers that Henze began to compose for the ballet in this same period: in 1949 he composed the Ballet Variations for large orchestra and the chamber ballet Jack Pudding; and the next year he not only composed the ballet Rosa Silber, but he became artistic director and conductor of the ballet at Wiesbaden. In 1951 Peter van Dyk choreographed the first movement for a ballet evening conducted by the composer. Henze actually had ballet in his ears while he was working on the score of the symphony: he reports that the sounds of a piano playing for a nearby ballet school wafted into his rooms.
The symphony was first performed at Donaueschingen, the capital of serialism in the early Fifties, in October 1951. Although this was Henze's first large-scale work after his switch to serialism (or his interpretation of it), one can't imagine a work less calculated to please the dogmatists at the premiere: the movement titles, the jazzy rhythms and tenor saxophone melody, occasional "lapses" into tonality, and the massive counterpoint in the second movement all seem to set the work apart. Henze said that "Some people were not best pleased that the work failed to follow the modernist eclectics of the Darmstadt School." He is probably exaggerating when he says (brags?) that he "was practically the only composer to break free of the Darmstadt manner," but it is interesting that he began to mold their teachings to fit his own voice so early on, much as Berg melded Schoenberg's twelve-tone system with tonal procedures to create a musical language more accessible to the general public.
The symphony is composed for the standard large orchestra, with the addition of glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, piano and tenor sax. The twittering flutes that open the piece must be a depiction of birds -- at sunrise perhaps -- and the horn fifths seem to represent Apollo. A lyrical theme in the violins and repeated horn fifths lead the orchestra to its first climax (perhaps Apollo's appearance?). The following section could hardly be more contrasting, with a disjointed theme in the piano driving the orchestra along in a dance-like celebration. Note how Henze holds the strings in reserve until he pulls them in for a second lyrical melody leading to the second climax (Apollo's departure?). A short, quiet coda ends with a recall of the horn fifths.
A dithyramb is either a short, wildly irregular poem or -- more appropriate to the second movement -- an exultant, visionary statement. It starts quietly enough, with a recurrence of the Apollo horn fifths from the first movement. But the full orchestra soon erupts, with strange, upward-swooping figures in the winds and brass. After this outburst the music adopts a rather somber, almost Hindemithian tone, and some of the interplay of thematic material approaches that composer's work in complexity. An interesting little coda is built around an upward figure in the bass clarinet, and the horn fifths reappear to end the movement.
The closing "Dance of Conjuration" sounds Stravinskian at times -- The Rite of Spring forty years later. Ostinato figures drive the end movements. In the first, the trumpets, sax, and drums let loose with jazzy little riffs as if this were a swing band invocation of Apollo instead of a German-Grecian one. A contrasting meno mosso section features a soaring melody in the strings, and the final section builds in Dionysian frenzy to a rather abrupt conclusion."
(David Anderson)

[@WilliamJamesRoss]

All music that is worth anything is experimental, yet it can be simple and obvious in many ways. With Henze it is worth listening! I think I'll listen to all of them!

[@91Colon]

Wonderful piece. You can hear so much “Rite Of Spring” in the third movement.

[@Alix777.]

I hear Henze

[@rubenmolino1480]

excelent ¡¡

[@steveegallo3384]

@rubenmolino1480 -- Truly excellent....there's much Sound....but is it Music? To YOUR ears? BRAVI from Acapulco!

[@rubenmolino1480]

@@steveegallo3384 as Bartok would say!,,,, he talks a lot,.... but he doesn't say anything.

[@rubenmolino1480]

@@steveegallo3384 as Bartok would say!,,,, he talks a lot,.... but he doesn't say anything.

[@ContemporaryClassical]

@@steveegallo3384 I don't really understand your question (is it music?) regarding this incredibly accessible symphony from someone who mixed with the post-war avant-garde. What on earth do you mean?

[@steveegallo3384]

@@ContemporaryClassical -- I apologize. I was thinking of Music in the sense of Sounds that give Pleasure and Comfort....and naturally the attendant Accessibility.

[@Scriabin_fan]

First time I'm hearing of Henze.

[@ContemporaryClassical]

He wrote really a lot! kzbin.info/aero/PL8hVc6VvPyKLuywfZe5HcadzF7vorN5jJ

[@machida5114]

sodelicious....................

[@0live0wire0]

"...but it is interesting that he began to mold their teachings to fit his own voice so early on, much as Berg melded Schoenberg's twelve-tone system with tonal procedures to create a musical language more accessible to the general public." Yeah right, like any non-musician in their right mind would listen to this screeching. Don't get me wrong, I find the textures and orchestration interesting, Henze is obviously very skilled but that's definitely not accessible.

[@ContemporaryClassical]

Different folks, different strokes

[@lf4227]

Get FILTERED

[@0live0wire0]

@@lf4227 what?

[@lf4227]

You called this “screeching” and as such are being filtered by this. Go get a Varese, Stockhausen, and Merzbow mindfuck