HÖffer, Paul

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HÖffer, Paul

HÖffer, Paul, German composer and teacher; b. Barmen, Dec. 21, 1895; d. Berlin, Aug. 31, 1949. He studied with Georgii, Bölsche, and Abendroth at the Cologne Cons., and with Schreker at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, where he joined the faculty as a piano instructor in 1923. From 1930 he taught composition and theory, in 1933 was made a prof., and in 1948 he became its director. He made use of polytonality and atonality in his compositions.

Works

dramatic: Opera: Borgia (1931); Der falsche Waldemar (1934). Ballet: Tanz um Liebe und Tod (1939).ORCH.: Sinfonische Ouvertüre (1922); Sinfonische Musik (1922); Sym. (1926–27); Sinfonie der grossen Stadt (1937); Symphonische Variationen über einen Bass von Bach (1940); Serenade for Strings (1944); 2 piano concertos; Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto; Concerto for Oboe and Strings. CHAMBER: Wind Sextet; Piano Quintet; Wind Quintet; 3 strings quartets; 2 pianotrios; String Trio; Trio Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Piano; 2 sonatas for Solo Violin; much piano music. VOCAL: 4 oratorios: Der reiche Tag (1938), Vom edlen Leben (1942), Mysterium Liebe (1943), and Die letzte Stunde (1945–47); cantatas; choruses; songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire