Hans Werner Henze und Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Ein Rückblick auf ihre Freundschaft und Zusammenarbeit

Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963) was especially fond of Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012), whose music he preferentially promoted. By the same token, Henze championed Hartmann's music through performance, commentary, and arrangements of his works. Hartmann's Piano Sonata no. 2, 27. April 1945, which Henze transformed into Three Pieces for Orchestra in 1995 ("over a music for piano of Karl Amadeus Hartmann") is not, as has been supposed up to now, related to the Hebrew Passover song "Eliyahu hanavi," but rather cites the beginning of Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps. A further testimony to their friendship marks the tangible presence of Alban Berg, whom both composers equally venerated, through quotations of Wozzeck in both of their sixth symphonies.