32 Facts About Josef Hofmann

Josef Casimir Hofmann was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.

Josef Hofmann was born in Podgorze, in Austro-Hungarian Galicia in 1876.

Josef Hofmann's father was the composer, conductor and pianist Kazimierz Hofmann, and his mother the singer Matylda Pindelska.

The young Josef Hofmann took music lessons from Heinrich Urban and with the pianist and composer Moritz Moszkowski.

Josef Hofmann toured and performed extensively over the next 50 years as one of the most celebrated pianists of the era.

Josef Hofmann made the United States his base during World War I and became a US citizen in 1926.

Josef Hofmann was instrumental in recruiting illustrious musicians such as Efrem Zimbalist, Fritz Reiner, Marcella Sembrich, Isabella Vengerova, Moriz Rosenthal, Wilhelm Backhaus, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Abram Chasins, David Saperton, Wanda Landowska, and Leopold Auer to the Curtis faculty.

Josef Hofmann's pupils included Jacques Abram, Jeanne Behrend, Abram Chasins, Shura Cherkassky, William Harms, Harry Kaufman, Angelica Morales von Sauer, Ezra Rachlin, Nadia Reisenberg, Abbey Simon, Lucie Stern, and Ruth Slenczynska.

Josef Hofmann spent his last decade in Los Angeles in relative obscurity, working on inventions and keeping a steady correspondence with associates.

Josef Hofmann died there of pneumonia on February 16,1957, at a nursing home.

Josef Hofmann had four children; a daughter and three sons.

At Rubinstein's suggestion, German impresario Hermann Wolff offered career management and offered to send the boy on a European tour, but Josef Hofmann's father refused to let the boy travel until he was nine years old.

At that age, Josef Hofmann gave concerts in Germany, France, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Great Britain.

The contract was rendered void by Alfred Corning Clark who donated $50,000 and, in turn, legally forbade Josef Hofmann to perform in public until he turned 18 years old.

Clark's donation enabled Josef Hofmann to continue individual study in science and mathematics, and he continued to take music lessons from Heinrich Urban and with the pianist and composer Moritz Moszkowski.

Josef Hofmann was never allowed to bring the same composition twice, as Rubinstein said as a teacher he would probably forget what he told the student during the previous lesson.

Rubinstein never played for Josef Hofmann, but gave ample evidence of his pianistic outlook during many recitals the boy heard.

Unlike Rubinstein, Josef Hofmann sat quietly at the piano, striking the keys in a kneading manner.

The New York Times critic Harold C Schonberg said Hofmann had all of Leopold Godowsky's technique, a claim approved by Godowsky himself.

Josef Hofmann often stated that Rubinstein and Moriz Rosenthal were the only pianists who had influenced his art, and admired singers Mattia Battistini and Marcella Sembrich.

Josef Hofmann adopted a more demonstrative style in live performances but a subtle and restrained style for his studio recordings; in both cases, he mostly adhered to the printed score, occasionally doubling left-hand octaves, and shunned sentimentality.

Josef Hofmann's repertoire was mostly confined to music written before the start of the 20th century.

Josef Hofmann played the work at the concert without hesitation.

Maurice Aronson, who served as Leopold Godowsky's assistant, recalled Josef Hofmann learning Godowsky's Fledermaus transcription.

Godowsky and Josef Hofmann met in Berlin in 1900, becoming friends until Godowsky's death in 1938.

Josef Hofmann would visit Godowsky's studio and listen while Godowsky was composing Fledermaus.

Josef Hofmann started recording in studios in the 1880s but was never satisfied with the available technology and made only test pressings after 1923; he considered the test pressings made for His Master's Voice in November 1935 to be a worthwhile representation of his art.

Josef Hofmann made two series of reproducing piano rolls, including in 1913 23 pieces for Welte-Mignon but did not trust rolls as an accurate representation of his playing.

Josef Hofmann recorded acoustic discs from 1912 to 1923 for Columbia and Brunswick, but felt the representation of his chaste and prismatic tonal palette was not captured.

Josef Hofmann experimented with short studio test recordings for RCA Victor in 1935, and in retirement in California experimented with piano string electrical pickups and designing an additional spruce soundboard under the piano lid.

Harold C Schonberg has argued that Hofmann was the most flawless and possibly the greatest pianist of the 20th century.

Josef Hofmann's books were based on his frequent articles in the Ladies' Home Journal:.