Josef Hofmann plays Anton Rubinstein piano concerto no.4 (Fritz Reiner, 1937)

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Josef Hofmann plays Anton Rubinstein piano concerto no.4 (Fritz Reiner, 1937) at The Golden Jubilee Concert

Josef Hofmann, the pianist, teacher, composer and inventor, born on 20th January 1876 in Krakow. He came from the family of musicians. His father, Kazimierz Hofmann, was a famous composer, pianist and conductor, his mother, Matylda Pindelska and the father’s two sisters, Honorata Majeranowska and Josefa Hofmann-Rapacka were singers. When Josef was three years old he began to learn playing the piano. The boy’s outstanding gift, his father’s pedagogical care and also the artistic atmosphere in his family contributed to his continuous progress. When he was eight he appeared in Warsaw, where he played the Mozart’s Concert D-Minor conducted by his father. Two years later, he had his first European tournée. He was performing in Prague, Germany, Denmark (where his performance was admired by the King of Denmark), Sweden, Holland, France (in the presence of Camille Saint-Saëns) and in England. In 1887 he went to the United States, where he made a great success performing in the Metropolitan Opera House. He was engaged for a few dozen concerts. Despite his great success he achieved and the admiration for his mature performances, after 10 weeks during which he gave 52 concerts, the tournée was cancelled at the request of New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. They decided that the tournée was too an excessive burden for the 11 years old boy and might be dangerous to his health.However, thanks to the publicity young Hofmann gained by playing, Alfred Coming Clark funded him a scholarship, under the condition, however, that the boy would not perform in public before his 18th birthday. The scholarship helped him to complete music studies in Berlin in 1888-1894. He was taught by such teachers as Maurycy Moszkowski (piano), Heinrich Urban (composition), and by Antoni Rubinstein. In 1894 he received the first prize at the Antoni Rubinstein competition in Hamburg during which he performed his D-Minor Concert Op. 70. After this success, he began the real career as a pianist performing in many European countries (England, Scandinavian countries, Russia, Poland), where he enjoyed great popularity, especially in Petersburg (1913). Apart from performances in Europe he gave annual concerts in United States, which became his second homeland. In 1926, he received American citizenship. In 1926-1938 he was the Principal of the music school Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. On 28th November 1937, on the 50th anniversary of his American debut the jubilee concert was held in Metropolitan Opera House. He finished his career as the pianist on 19th January 1946 when he gave his last recital in Carnegie Hall. He died in Los Angeles on 16th February 1957. He was married twice. Maria Eustis was his first wife and he had one daughter with her, the second wife was Betty Short and they had 3 sons.

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