Beyond the Implicit: The Bassarids and Venus und Adonis by Hans Werner Henze

Abstract

This article argues that Hans Werner Henze’s operas The Bassarids (1966) and Venus und Adonis (1997) unfold queer subtexts through their librettos and music. It identifies covert queer features of the characters and their relationships, through analysis of dramaturgy and musical style. The proposed reading indicates that the theatrical medium provides artists with the opportunity to dramatize uncomfortable and even scandalous topics such as non-normative gender identities. Music functions together with other communicative forms (text, narrative, and staging) to generate multimedia performances aimed at conveying implicit queer messages.