Franz Hofmann Franz Hofmann

Franz Dominik Hofmann (born December 13, 1920 in Forchheim , † February 10, 1945 on board the Steuben in the Baltic Sea ) was a German composer.

Life

Hofmann first received piano lessons from his aunt before he began to write his first compositions at the age of fourteen. A year later he was accepted as a student at the municipal conservatory in Nuremberg, where he studied with Karl Rast (piano) and Seby Horvath (violin). After graduating from high school, Hofmann was drafted into the labor service in 1939. Nevertheless, he managed to write over 40 works for chamber music between 1940 and 1944. His violin sonatas were written by his wife Sophie Hagemannwho was a trained violinist. In September 1944 he was sent to the Eastern Front as a private, where he continued to compose despite the war. On November 12, 1944, he was seriously wounded in the head and was taken to a military hospital in Königsberg, where he stayed until the beginning of February 1945 and continued to compose. In a letter dated February 6th, he reported to his wife: “The longed-for ship does not want to come, but I have finished the 3rd movement of the ›› Little Sonata ‹‹."  Presumably he was then brought to the ship Steuben , which was torpedoed on the night of February 9th to 10th. Hofmann was probably killed in this ship disaster.

Work

Hofmann's first works are similar to those of his teacher Karl Rorich at the Nuremberg Conservatory . It was only with his 1940 sonata for violin and piano in F minor that he began to develop his own style. Most of his works are in the form of a suite or a variation . After 1960 his compositions were forgotten. They were only rediscovered in 1985 and have only been performed again since then, including a violin concerto and a horn quintet that was recorded in 1994 by members of the Vienna Philharmonic .