Hans Werner Henze

Arien des Orpheus

In my ballet Orpheus, a full symphony orchestra is employed. Woodwind, brass and percussion represent Apollo, the god-sent Master of the Muses who has handed over to Orpheus the Power of Music. The (opposite) sound world of Orpheus is made of stringed instruments: the guitar, reaching back into classical history, contains the basic intervals of Orpheus' music in this context, harp and harpischord represent further technical and harmonic developments of the literature for plucked instruments, consequently their music shows more developed aspects, more elaborate variations, of the basic material. The sound of the plucked strings is embedded in the sound of a small orchestra of bowed strings.- Hans Werner Henze