Opera House's Boulevard battle

Boulevard Solitude: a lonely experience for listeners?

London celebrations for composer Hans Werner Henze's 75th birthday are threatening to turn sour - with reports of only 20 percent of tickets sold for opening of his opera Boulevard Solitude at the Royal Opera House next week.

The audience may be about to learn the meaning of solitude themselves, with reports that the Royal Opera House has been giving away tickets to celebrities in a bid to increase interest in the production, which starts on 20 March.

Henze, who is regarded as one of the greatest living composers, has composed ten operas and ten symphonies and is widely performed in Europe.

Henze's music is not daunting, it's listener-friendly

David Wordsworth, Schott & Co

His 75th birthday, which falls on 1 July, has prompted greater recognition of his work in the UK and a season of his compositions at the Royal Festival Hall, besides the Royal Opera House production.

Born in Germany and the son of a Nazi, Henze was a Communist pacifist and fled Germany after the war for Italy.

In Montepulciano, Tuscany he established a "people's art" music festival and continued to propagandise for his political beliefs.

Though recognisably modern, his work is generally seen as more approachable than that of other contemporary composers and he generally avoided atonality in his compositions.

'Listener-friendly'

Commenting on the reports of poor ticket sales, David Wordsworth of Henze's publisher Schott & Co told BBC News Online: "Henze's music is not daunting, it's listener-friendly.

"Boulevard Solitude is a familiar story - the story of Manon Lescault has been used by Puccini and Massenet, among others.

"But people won't try anything they don't know - Henze gets lots of performances in Germany, but the English are more reluctant to try new things."

A spokesman for the Royal Opera House said that it was right that Henze's birthday should be celebrated with a work as yet unperformed in the UK.

"We're hoping it does well at the box office but we're not expecting it to do as well as something like Turandot will.

'Safe' opera

"Twelve months ago there was criticism in some quarters that the Royal Opera House had been promoting too much 'safe' opera.

"It's an appropriate moment to programme Boulevard Solitude.

"We're not sittiing here with our heads in our hands," he added.