Symphony No. 2 (Henze)
Symphony No. 2 by Hans Werner Henze was composed in 1949 and premiered on 1 December that year in Stuttgart by the South German Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans Müller-Kray. The symphony is dedicated to conductor Hermann Scherchen.
Background
Henze began contemplating a new symphony early in 1949 and wrote to Wolfgang Steinecke, organiser of the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, hoping for a performance at the course that year. Henze missed the deadline but a commission from South German Radio allowed him to continue and complete work on the symphony, which he did between May and August.[1]
Structure and style
The symphony is scored for 3 flutes, (no. 3 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion (3 players), harp, piano and strings.
It is cast in three movements:
Depending on the precise tempi chosen a performance lasts between 18 and 23 minutes.
For a new year's day 1961 performance drastic cuts were made to the first and second movements. Henze later claimed that he "never undertook changes" to the symphony but they persisted into the published score.[1]
The symphony was written using twelve-tone technique.
The first movement alternates large blocks of material in 3/4 and 4/4 time. Henze originally wrote five such blocks but cut the middle one before the first performance.
The second movement is fast and energetic. It begins with a seven bar introduction followed by a seven bar theme in which the bars have a metric pattern of 5/4 - 4/4 - 3/4 - 2/4 - 3/8 - 3/4 - 3/4. This theme is repeated with variations ten times (originally thirteen times but nos. 3, 4 and 5 were cut). Originally a long and more serene passage followed but this was also subject to cuts and only a 17 bar ostinato-like figure remains. The seven bar theme from the beginning of the movement reappears, this time repeated five times and with the rhythm reversed. The final section of the movement slows to an andante.
The final movement is in four sections: 1) slow and melodic, mainly for strings, 2) a march-like ostinato for the winds, 3) a second ostinato based on the B-A-C-H motif and 4) a final allegro which quotes Bach's cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern. It concludes in a coda featuring a slowing of the tempo and finally four fortissimo chords made up of all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale.[1]
Henze himself said that the symphony is "music for a winter's day, utterly grey and gloomy".[2]
Recordings
- Deutsche Grammophon/Brilliant Classics - Berlin Philharmonic conducted by the composer
- Wergo - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marek Janowski
