Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012, Germany) was a prolific composer whose career encompassed opera, ballet, symphonic music, chamber works, and vocal compositions. Born in Gütersloh, Germany, he left school at sixteen to study composition with Wolfgang Fortner, later engaging with twelve-tone technique at Darmstadt and studying with René Leibowitz and Josef Rufer. He diversified his style by blending his classical knowledge with jazz and even with Arabic music, often opting for dense orchestration and expressionistic lyricism.

A passionate reader, he set to music works by Cervantes, Kleist, Balzac, Kafka, Auden, and Mishima. He settled in Italy in the 1950s, as Italian vocal music captivated him, and composed some twenty operas, such as The Prince of Homburg (1958), as well as scores for the stage and musical theatre. Politically engaged, he composed provocative works addressing social issues like Das Floß der Medusa in 1968 and El Cimarron in 1970 and collaborated with writers such as Ingeborg Bachmann. In later decades, he continued producing major stage works while also conducting and teaching internationally.