Leopold Hofmann  (1738-1793)

 Gary Smith

                         Leopold Hofmann was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the more gifted and influential composers of his generation. Although a church musician by profession, Hofmann was also an important and prolific composer of instrumental music. His symphonies, concertos and chamber works were played all over Europe and the large number of manuscript copies that have survived the ravages of time and fashion attests to the avidity with which they were collected.  These survivors did not, of course, insure that his music “lived “ to be played on in the Romantic era and beyond.  It has only been in the last 20 or so years that an appreciation of his music has come about.

The son of a senior and highly educated civil servant, Hofmann revealed his musical abilities early on and at the age of seven joined the chapel of the Empress Dowager Elisabeth Christine as a member of the choir. As a member of the chapel he received an extensive musical education studying the keyboard - and later composition - with Georg Christoph Wagenseil, one of the brightest starts in the Viennese musical firmament, and violin, possibly with Giuseppe Trani, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s teacher.

Hofmann's earliest known compositions date from the late-1750s and include symphonies, flute concertos and a number of small-scale sacred works. His reputation must have spread well beyond Vienna by 1760 since Sieber, the Parisian publisher, printed six of his symphonies that year and a number of the great Austrian monastic houses, including Göettweig, began seeking out and collecting his music from around this time. In the area of concerti alone, he composed about 60 solo works in a twenty year span (1758-1778) for a variety of instruments, including 13 alone for flute, a popular “amateurs” instrument.  However, it is sad to note that until recently, the only Hofmann work to achieve a recording was the Flute Concerto in D (Badley D1), which for decades was ascribed to Haydn.

However, during the Classical Era, in his native Vienna, the city which Dr. Charles Burney described as "the imperial seat of music as well as of power", Hofmann was a figure of considerable consequence. His first known professional post -as “musicus” (probably violinist) at St Michael's (1758) - was followed quickly by the musical directorship of St Peter's and, in 1769, an appointment as keyboard teacher to the Imperial family. Three years later, Hofmann secured the prized position of Kapellmeister at St Stephen's Cathedral and, in a gesture of supreme professional confidence, declined the musical directorship of the Imperial Chapel on the grounds that to accept he would have to relinquish his other lucrative posts (One can see here that connections were of supreme importance).

His decision to petition for the post in 1774 following the unexpected death of Florian Leopold Gassmann perhaps indicates a change of stance on this issue. In the event, however, Hofmann's petition was declined even though he was recognized as being the best-qualified candidate for the position. A recently discovered confidential memorandum concerning the appointment reveals concern on the part of the authorities that Hofmann's resignation from the Cathedral would have opened the way to Tobias Gsur succeeding to the position. He was evidently considered a quite an unsuitable candidate by the committee who instead decided to leave Hofmann where he was and bring Giuseppe Bonno out of retirement to fill the court position. In turn, Bonno was retired from the post by Emperor Joseph II in 1788 for health reasons, and Antonio Salieri was appointed to the job.  This post had always been intended for Salieri, and it paid 1200 gulden yearly. 

The politicking involved in the various court appointments may have soured Hofmann since he appears to have ceased composing on a regular basis shortly afterwards. He continued to hold the post of Cathedral Kapellmeister until his death in March 1793 but the last decade of his tenure cannot have offered him any professional satisfaction given the disastrous impact of Joseph II's reforms on church music. Hofmann virtually withdrew from Viennese musical circles during the 1780s and little is known of his last few years save that for a brief period in 1791 when due to illness he required an assistant (unpaid to start) to help him with various duties.  The city appointed one for him, with the understanding that this "unsalaried adjunct" would most likely secure the post when Hofmann retired or died. Ironically, the extremely wealthy Hofmann outlived his financially strapped assistant by some eighteen months.  Mozart (for it was he who achieved this unpaid post), while on his deathbed, asked Constanze to inform Hofmann of the severity of his illness so that (presumably) various tasks could be continued with and another assistant found on short notice.  A small point perhaps, but important to Mozart that he not let the sick Hofmann down.

Sources:

“Leopold Hofmann” by Allan Badley at the Artaria.com site

Liner Notes in various CD sets by Naxos as noted below, written by Allan Badley

Braunbehrens, Volkmar  Maligned Master: The Real Story of Antonio Salieri  Fromm Int. New York 1992

Music:

Not too surprisingly, Naxos has a good sampling of various Hofmann works recorded.

The 18^th Century Concert           8.554233

Hofmann: Five Symphonies        8.553866

Hofmann: Flute Concertos Vol 1 8.554747

Hofmann: Flute Concertos Vol 2 8.554748

Hofmann: Cello Concertos          8.553853

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