38 - Hans Werner Henze - Composer, Communist, Dandy

The life of Henze, born in 1926, is a reflection of European history: the Nazi era and the war, the conflicts he faced as a homosexual, and public attacks made him Germany's most politically engaged composer. His cosmopolitan demeanor, his villa in Italy, and he himself—the epitome of the dandy—disproved all conventional notions of a composer of "serious music." The film unearths archival material, revealing Henze's intimate side: as a person and as the composer of previously unreleased songs.