Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann

Home > ... > Literature and the Arts > Literature in Other Modern Languages > German Literature: Biographies > ...

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann , 1776-1822, German romantic novelist and composer, a lawyer. At one time an opera composer and musical director at Bamberg and a gifted music critic, he is most famous as a master of the gothic tale. His stories of madness, grotesquerie, horror, and the supernatural include Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier (1814-15), Die Serapionsbrüder (1819-21, tr. The Serapion Brethren, 1886-92), Die Elixiere des Teufels (1815-16, tr. The Devil's Elixir, 1824-26), and Lebensansichten des Katers Murr (1820-22, tr. Kater Murr, the Educated Cat, 1892). Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker (1892) and Offenbach's opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann (1881) [the Tales of Hoffmann] are based on his stories. His writings greatly influenced the composer Schumann.

Bibliography: See his Selected Writings (1969); studies by K. Negus (1965), H. W. Hewett-Thayer (1948, repr. 1971), H. S. Daemmrich (1973), and J. M. McGlathery (4 vol., 1981).

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-HoffmannE" title="Facts and information about Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann">Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 6 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (December 6, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-HoffmannE.html

"Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved December 06, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-HoffmannE.html

Learn more about citation styles

Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus)

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996 | | © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus) (orig. Wilhelm, but adopted name Amadeus in homage to Mozart) (b Königsberg, 1776; d Berlin, 1822). Ger. writer, music critic, composer, and conductor. Was th. cond. from 1808 at Bamberg, Leipzig, and Dresden. Comp. 10 operas, incl. Undine (Berlin 1816), ballet, sym., mass, pf. sonatas, etc. Best known for his essays and tales, which have remarkable bizarre humour. His character, the Kapellmeister Kreisler, inspired Schumann's Kreisleriana. He himself is the hero of Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O76-HoffmannErnstTheodorAmads" title="Facts and information about Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann">Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus)." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 6 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus)." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (December 6, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-HoffmannErnstTheodorAmads.html

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus)." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved December 06, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-HoffmannErnstTheodorAmads.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Tales Behind the `Tales of Hoffmann';Offenbach's Best Opens Opera Season
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 12/22/1991; ; 700+ words ; ...music critic: Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann." Considering the series of disasters it inflicts on Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822), "Tales of Hoffmann" might be mistaken for a composer's...
TEMPLE OPERA THEATER PRESENTS OFFENBACH'S 'TALES OF HOFFMANN' WITH NEWLY DISCOVERED MISSING MUSIC
News Wire article from: US Fed News Service, Including US State News; 11/6/2006; 700+ words ; ...Campus. "This version of 'Hoffmann' has only been performed by...for Temple's "The Tales of Hoffmann." Based on stories written...Romantic-era author and musician Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, the opera features Hoffmann...
Review: Berkeley Opera's retold 'Tales of Hoffmann' captivates
Newspaper article from: Oakland Tribune; 3/2/2009; ; 700+ words ; Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, aka E.T.A. Hoffmann, is certainly one of the most fascinating characters to...by the Berkeley Opera. Born in East Prussia in 1776, Hoffmann became one of the 19th- century's most popular, if...
BETT ON A LYRICAL TALE OF HOFFMANN'S WONDERFUL LIFE
Newspaper article from: Evening News - Scotland; 1/27/2000; ; 442 words ; ...including Edgar Allan Poe. Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Amadeus Hoffmann, to give him his full name...Bett, a one-man drama about Hoffmann's life and work. Bett...play features extracts from Hoffmann's writings, as well as music...
Opera review: He's not so think as you drunk he is The Tales of Hoffmann ENO at the London Coliseum
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 2/26/1998; ; 700+ words ; Opera: The Tales of Hoffmann ENO at the London Coliseum Hoffmann (as in Ernst Theodor Amadeus) may be the hero (or anti- hero...entrance "through the booze", and Hoffmann's love-life flashes before him in...
The Ultimate Art: Essays Around and About Opera.
Magazine article from: Notes; 6/1/1994; ; 700+ words ; ...audiences actually saw in the 1980s. Littlejohn shines in his discussions of figures such as Victor Hugo, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, or Ludovico Ariosto, and how they and their works have influenced familiar operas; or again when he...
Lucy Parham at the Wigmore Hall
Magazine article from: Musical Opinion; 11/1/2002; ; 442 words ; ...the Variations present. Robert Schumann was one of many composers to have been inspired by the writings of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, whose fictional Kappellmeister Johannes Kreisler was the subject of his 8-- part Portrait Cycle Kreisleriana...
Invierten dinero; solo ganan aplausos.(Estado)
Newspaper article from: Reforma (México D.F., México); 12/17/2005; 635 words ; ...Diez cajas y un rbol de Navidad hecho con papel verde apenas simularon lo ms representativo del cuento de Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann musicalizado por Piotr Ilich Chaikovski. "Si no hay apoyo, si no hay nada, vemos cmo, de dnde lo sacamos...
Anniversaries: 24th January 1996
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 1/24/1996; 406 words ; ...Carlo Broschi), castrato singer, 1705; Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, playwright, 1732; Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, author and composer, 1776; Edith Newbold (Jones) Wharton, novelist, 1862; Ann Todd, actress, 1909...
Anniversaries
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 1/24/1995; 448 words ; ...1712; Pierre- Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, playwright, 1732; Charles James Fox, politician, 1749; Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, author and composer, 1776; Edith Newbold (Jones) Wharton, novelist, 1862; Ann Todd, actress, 1909...

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

For students and teachers!

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Popular on Newser: