Program

“Henze digital” is the title of the research project funded by the German Research Association (DFG) and based at the Department of Musicology Detmold/Paderborn (Musicological Seminar). Dr. Antje Tumat – musicologist and Henze researcher at Detmold University and Professor at the Department of Musicology – and her team are evaluating the as yet unpublished correspondence of the composer, who died in Dresden ten years ago. The aim of the progressive digital publication of the letters is to open up new research perspectives on Henze’s work by 2026, the centenary of the composer’s birth. In 2021, the private library at La Leprara in Italy, Henze’s home until his death, was given access to Detmold University of Music’s library. To give a general insight into the project and the current state of research, the Department of Musicology held an international symposium with international guests on 19. and 20. November in Detmold. The focus was on Henze’s early operas, his film scores, ballets or political works. The event opened on 19. November in the conference room of Detmold University (Willi-Hofmann-Straße 5) with a presentation of the project “Henze digital”. A round-table discussion with contemporary witnesses illustrated the relationship between the results of the subsequent presentations and earlier research into the composer, his works and his life.

The event was brought to a fitting conclusion by a concert matinee at 11.30 a.m. on 20. November in the University’s Kuppelsaal hall, as part of the celebrations to mark the 50^th anniversary of the founding of Paderborn University. Under the title “Music remembers words” – Compositions by Hans Werner Henze in words and music”, ensembles of the Detmold University of Music under the artistic direction of Prof. Godelieve Schrama performed Henze’s cantata “Being Beauteous”, excerpts from the recital “El Cimarrón” and his work “Carillon”. The setting for these highly political works was excerpts from Henze’s letters read by project staff members and students of a course on Hans Werner Henze.