Biography
After pursuing legal studies, Hoffmann simultaneously took up the organ under Podbielski. During 1798 and 1799, while receiving instruction from Reichardt, he produced his earliest compositions. Several of these pieces reached performance in Warsaw in 1804. Though still employed as a civil servant, he followed his musical inclinations and served as theatre conductor in Bamberg in 1808, then led Skedona’s troupe in Dresden from 1813 to 1814. Returning to official duties in Berlin by 1815, he had already completed multiple operas written between 1801 and 1816. He soon found that stories and reviews brought him wider recognition than his musical output. Among his stage works were “Scherz, List und Rache,” “Der Renegat,” “Julius Sabina,” and the most successful, “Undine.” In the latter he broadened the German Singspiel by enlarging the chorus and assigning it greater dramatic weight. He also composed ballet, symphony, overture, quintet for harp and strings, piano sonatas, and a Mass. His most lasting impact came through literature, where he created the figure of Johannes Kreisler the Kapellmeister, the character who later prompted Schumann’s “Kreisleriana.” Beethoven, Carlyle, Schumann, and Weber all praised his achievements, and his devotion to Mozart led him to adopt the additional name Amadeus. The fictional figures he introduced likewise left their mark on Offenbach and Wagner.
Albums
