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Josef was a Polish child piano child prodigy. "I believe in the education of music. It is a great, a mighty power," said Josef Hofmann, perhaps the most outstanding pianist of the 20th century and for 13 years the director of the prestigious Curtis Institute. Josef was born in Poland during 1876 to peretic parents. He toured through Europe and the United States as a boy. His American tour occurred during the Fauntleroy craze of the mid-1880s, but he seems to have worn rather plain clothes. He eventually moved to America and had a destinguished career as a concert pianist.
Josef was a Polish child piano child prodigy. He was born in Poland during 1876. His name in Polish was Jozef Kazimierz. He eventually made a tour through the United States. I have little information on his childhood or performances as a child prodigy. He was born near Krakow, Poland in 1876. Poland at the time was part of the Russian Empire. His operatic parents encouraged his talent at an early age. He showed unusual talet at 3 years of age. He became a professional pianist at the early age of 9 years, impressing Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saens, and Anton Rubinstein.
Josef claimed to have made his first public appearance at the Warsaw Opera when he was 5 yerars old. His father had to help with the pedalling. The concerts that soon followed established his musical genius; his later teacher Anton Rubinstein insisted he did not believe in child prodigies, except this one. The 9-year-old Hofmann made an extended tour of Europe, causing a general furore, and so an American tour with over 80 concerts was planned for 1887. Early in the tour, Josef boy did free improvisations of themes suggested from the audience, some of them by such famous
musicians as Walter Damrosch and John Philip Sousa. And then, after about 70 concerts, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children intervened, and the tour had to be abandoned.
The only photograph I have of Josef shows him in a very, plain rather formal kneepants outfit. It was taken in America in 1887 when he was about 11-years old. He is wearing some kind of dark leggings with his outfit that cover most of his shoes. His hair is rather short, worn with front bangs. His America tour occurred during the Fauntleroy craze of the mid-1880s, but he seems to have worn rather plain clothes. We are not sure, however, what outfits he used for his performances.
An anonymous donor gave Hofmann's father 50,000 dollars on condition that the young pianist did not
appear again till he reached age 18 years. From 1892 to 1894 Hofmann was in Berlin as the sole private pupil
of Anton Rubinstein, who exercised a lasting influence on him.
"I believe in the education of music. It is a great, a mighty power," said Josef Hofmann, perhaps the most outstanding pianist of the 20th century and for 13 years the director of the prestigious Curtis Institute. Hofmann's stupendous technical abilities and pure and limpid tone make him one of the all-time greats at the piano. Playing Rubinstein's D minor concerto
with the composer conducting, Hofmann (now eighteen!) began his second career in Hamburg in
1894. After the concert, Rubinstein told Hofmann he had taught him all he knew about the piano and
music; the lessons were over.
Over the next 40 years, Hofmann grew to be one of the most celebrated performers of his day. He left war-torn Europe for the saftey of the United States (1914). The rest of his life is primarily associated with the United States and he became an Amerucan citizen. He headed the piano faculty of the newly-founded Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1924. Hofmann, to whom Rachmaninov dedicated his Third Piano Concerto, also composed under the pseudonym Michel Dvorsky; an author, educationalist and inventor (with 70 patents!) as well, he was a truly versatile artist. Despite his sweeping repertoire of some 300 works, he was known for his rendetions of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Liszt. His incomparable playing was principally admired for its technical brilliance, emotional depth and unparalleled range of dynamics and timbre." He had rather small hands. A piano was made for him with narrow keys.
Belonging to a prominent family which, along with the Hitchcocks and Whitneys, can be credited with making Aiken a great winter resort, Marie Eustis was divorced from her first husband and 11 years older than Hofmann. Neither was to know, on that singular night, that they would soon be drawn to one another and would marry one year later. Their marriage
was not without complications. The Eustis family disapproved of the match because they felt that the itinerant life of a concert pianist was inappropriate for a woman of Marie’s upbringing. It was said that the couple had nothing in common but music. "And love," Marie Hofmann would add. The Hofmanns bought an Aiken home, which they called "Fermata" after the musical term for "stop" or "rest". Regardless of Josef’s demanding professional travel, they always spent Christmas at their Aiken residence. During the early years of their marriage, Marie accompanied Josef everywhere he went, and extensive excerpts from her Russian and Mexican travel diaries are featured in the 1965 Graydon and Sizemore double biography.
Graydon and Sizemore. The Amazing Marriage (1965).
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