Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus)
Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus)
Hoffmann, E(rnst) T(heodor) A(madeus) (his 3rd Christian name was Wilhelm, but he replaced it with Amadeus, from love of Mozart), famous German writer, who was also a composer; b. Königsberg, Jan. 24, 1776; d. Berlin, June 25, 1822. He studied law at the Univ. of Königsberg; also studied violin with Christian Gladau, piano with Carl Gottlieb Richter, and thoroughbass and counterpoint with Christian Podbielski; after further studies with Gladau, he completed his training by taking a course in composition with J. F. Reichardt in Berlin. He served as music director at the theater in Bamberg, then conducted opera performances in Leipzig and Dresden (1813–14). In 1814 he settled in Berlin. He used the pen name of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler (subsequently made famous in Schumann’s Kreisleriana); his series of articles in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung under that name were reprinted as Phantasiestucke in Callot’s Manier (1814). As a writer of fantastic tales, he made a profound impression on his period, and influenced the entire Romantic school of literature; indirectly, he was also a formative factor in the evolution of the German school of composition. His own compositions are passable from the technical viewpoint, but strangely enough, for a man of his imaginative power, they lack the inventiveness that characterizes his literary productions. His writings on music were ed. by H. von Ende (Cologne, 1896); see also D. Charlton, ed., E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Musical Writings: Kreisleriana, The Poet and the Composer, Music Criticism (Cambridge, 1989).
Works
dramatic:Opera : Die Maske (1799); Scherz, List und Rache (Posen, 1801); Der Renegat (Plozk, 1803); Faustine (Plozk, 1804); Die ungeladenen Gäste, oder Der Canonicus von Mailand (Warsaw, 1805); Lustige Musikanten (Warsaw, 1805); Liebe aus Eifersucht (Warsaw, 1807); Der Trank der Unsterblichkeit (Bamberg, 1808); Das Gespenst (Warsaw, 1809); Aurora (1811; rev. version by L. Böttcher, Bamberg, Nov. 5, 1933); Undine (Berlin, Aug. 3, 1816; his best work; vocal score ed. by Pfitzner, 1907); Julius Sabinus (unfinished). Ba11et: Harlekin. OTHER: Some sacred works; Sym.; Piano Trio; 4 piano sonatas.
Bibliography
H. von Wolzogen, E.T.A. H. und R. Wagner (Berlin, 1906); E. Kroll, E.T.A. H.s musikalische Anschauungen (Königsberg, 1909); H. Ehinger, E.T.A. H. als Musiker und Musik-Schriftsteller (Cologne, 1954); H. Dechant, E.T.A. H.s Oper Aurora (Regensburg, 1975); R. Murray Schafer, E.T.A. H. and Music (Toronto, 1975); W Keil, E.T.A. H als Komponist: Studien zur Kompositionstechnik an ausgewählten Werken (Wiesbaden, 1986).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire