Ballet Variations

In the late autumn of 1948, at the invitation of a British cultural officer, Hans Werner Henze attended performances by London’s Sadler’s Wells Ballet who were making a guest appearance in Hamburg with Stravinsky ballets by the choreographer Frederick Ashton. This experience was for Henze the inspiration for his own preoccupation with the subject of ballet music. 

"I was introduced to a magical poetry of which I had previously had no inkling and began to understand the thaumaturgic, sensual links between musical ideas and the gestures, positions and attempts to fly on the part of traditional ballet. […] There was something about it that spoke to me directly, although at that time I did not realize it: it was not yet clear to me that, as a result of this experience, I would spend the rest of my life attempting to grapple with the dialectical complexities of modern music theatre. On my return to Göttingen I made straight for my desk and tried to translate into music the experiences gleaned in Hamburg. The result, of course, was a dance score, which I proceeded to title Ballet Variations."