Henze reinterprets the traditional genre of the barcarolle songs of Venetian boatmen linking it with the mythological image of Charon who carries the souls of the dead across the River Styx to the kingdom of Hades.
The work is described as a journey of the soul or the memories of a dying person where real events of the past are intertwined with new realizations at the moment of transition to another world.
The form resembles a one-movement overture with a slow introduction and a fast main section.