Hans Werner Henze: A matter of life and death

Next month, the UK celebrates the music of Hans Werner Henze – one of the world's greatest composers. The 83-year-old talks about his two months in a coma and why loss has inspired his best workI am standing outside the German composer Hans Werner Henze's house in Marino, near Rome, looking at his olive grove, an infinity of gnarled branches and leaves that shimmer in the brilliant winter light. "The trees are 500 years old," Henze tells me, as his three whippets wrap themselves around hi...

Read full article Share article