Work of the Week – Hans Werner Henze: Fantasia for Strings

By Christopher Peter
4 Jan 2026

Black and white portrait of young Hans Werner Henze in a light shirt. Standing before tall reeds, sunlight casts shadows of the grass onto his face.

July 1, 2026, marks the centenary of Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012), one of the most influential composers of the post-war era. The anniversary year #henze100 will be celebrated globally with major retrospectives, opera productions, and festivals. Two concerts in January 2026 provide an early focus on the "Fantasia for Strings" (1966), a work that perfectly distills Henze’s fascination with literature, film, and music.

Performances will take place on January 10 and 11, 2026, with Camerata Bern under Lawrence Power at the Zentrum Paul Klee. On January 25, 2026, the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim under Douglas Bostock will present the work at the CongressCentrum Pforzheim .

A Cinematic Origin

The "Fantasia for Strings" has its roots in cinema, based on Henze’s score for Volker Schlöndorff’s directorial debut, "The Confusions of Young Törless", after Robert Musil. For the film, Henze originally chose an archaic ensemble of Renaissance instruments like recorders, lute, and gambas. Their raw, "immature" sound served as a metaphor for the emotional coldness and moral disorientation of the young protagonists in a military academy.

Henze later rearranged this material for a full string orchestra. The 15-minute Fantasia is structured in seven movements, ranging from a melancholic Adagio and a strict funeral march to lyrical passages and a nervous Allegro. A Baroque-inspired Air and a grotesque Vivace lead into a resigned Epilogue. The suggestive power of this music is so profound that segments were even used in the credits of the horror classic "The Exorcist" (1973).

The Composer as a Universal Scholar

Born in Gütersloh in 1926, Henze was an artist of immense political and social awareness. To escape the aesthetic dogmatism and political constraints of post-war West Germany, he moved to Italy in 1953 . There, he developed his unique style, blending modernity with tradition, pathos, and melody .

His catalog includes ten symphonies, over 40 stage works—including masterpieces like "The Young Lord" or "The Bassarids"—and significant political oratorios like "The Raft of the Medusa". Yet Henze was more than a composer: he was a conductor, author ("Bohemian Fifths"), influential teacher, and visionary cultural organizer. In 1976, he founded the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano, and in 1988, the Munich Biennale for new music theater.