Hugo von Hofmannsthal
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Hugo von Hofmannsthal (February 1, 1874 – July 15, 1929), was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
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[edit] Life
Hofmannsthal was born in Vienna, the son of an upper-class Austrian mother and an Austrian-Italian bank manager. His great-grandfather, Isaak Löw Hofmann, Edler von Hofmannsthal, from whom his family inherited the noble title "Edler von Hofmannsthal," was a Jewish merchant ennobled by the Austrian emperor. He began to write poems and plays from an early age. He met the German poet Stefan George at the age of seventeen and had several poems published in George's journal, Blätter für die Kunst. He studied law and later philology in Vienna but decided to devote himself to writing upon graduating in 1901. Along with Peter Altenberg and Arthur Schnitzler, he was a member of the avant garde group Young Vienna (Junges Wien). Hofmannsthal met the composer Richard Strauss, and wrote libretti for several of his operas, including Elektra (1909), Der Rosenkavalier (1911), Ariadne auf Naxos (1913, rev. 1916), Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919), Die Ägyptische Helena (1927), and Arabella (1933).
On Oct. 18, 1902, Hoffmannsthal published a fictive letter in the Berlin Daily, "Der Tag," titled simply "Ein Brief" (A Letter). It was purportedly written in 1603 by Phillip, Lord Chandos to Francis Bacon. In this letter Chandos says that he has stopped writing because he has "lost completely the ability to think or to speak of anything coherently"; he has given up on the possibility of language to describe the world. This letter reflects the growing distrust of and dissatisfaction with language that so characterizes the Modern era, and Chandos's dissolving personality is not only individual but societal.
Growing up the son of a wealthy merchant who was well connected with the major artists of the time, Hofmannsthal was raised in what Carl Schorske refers to as, “the temple of art.” This perfect setting for aesthetic isolation allowed Hofmannsthal the unique perspective of the privileged artist, but also allowed him to see that art had become a flattened documenting of humanity, which took our instincts and desires and framed them for viewing without acquiring any of the living, passionate elements. Because of this realization, Hofmannsthal’s idea of the role of the artist began to take shape as someone who created works that would inspire or inflame the instinct, rather than merely preserving it in a creative form. He also began to think that the artist should not be someone isolated and left to his art, but rather a man of the world, immersed in both politics and art.
Hofmannsthal saw in English culture the ideal setting for the artist. This was because the English simultaneously admired Admiral Nelson and John Milton, both war heroes and poets, while still maintaining a solid national identity. “In [Hofmannsthal’s] view, the division between artist (writer) and man of action (politician, explorer, soldier) does not exist in England. Britain provides her subjects with a common base of energy which functions as equilibrium, a force lacking in fragmented Germany.” (Weiss) This singular and yet pragmatic identity must have appealed to Hofmannsthal to a certain degree due to the large scale fragmentation of Austria at the time, which was in the throes of radical nationalism and anti-Semitism, a nation in which the progressive artist and the progressive politician were growing more different and hostile to each other by the day.
In 1912 he adapted the 15th century English morality play Everyman as Jedermann, and Jean Sibelius (amongst others) wrote incidental music for it. The play became a staple at the Salzburg Festival, which Hofmannsthal founded with Max Reinhardt in 1920. His later plays revealed a growing interest in religious, particularly Roman Catholic, themes.
He died of a stroke two days after the suicide of his son Franz in Rodaun, Vienna.
[edit] References
- Schorske, Carl E. Fin-d-Siecle Vienna, Politics and Culture, 1980
- Weiss, Winifred. Comparative Literature. Vol 25, no. 1. (Winter, 1973) pp. 60-67
[edit] Selected Works
[edit] Plays
- Der Tor und der Tod (1891)
- Der Tod des Tizian (1901)
- Elektra (1904)
- Ödipus und die Sphinx (1906)
- Die Frau im Fenster (1909)
- Jedermann (1911)
- Der Schwierige (1921)
- Das Salzburger grosse Welttheater (1922)
- Der Turm (1925)
[edit] Libretti
- Elektra (1909)
- Der Rosenkavalier (1911)
- Ariadne auf Naxos (1913, rev. 1916)
- Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919)
- Die Ägyptische Helena (1927)
- Arabella (1933)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Hugo von Hofmannthal Resource Center
- University of Washington Vienna 1900 Pagebg:Хуго фон Хофманстал
ca:Hugo von Hofmannsthal cs:Hugo von Hofmannsthal de:Hugo von Hofmannsthal es:Hugo von Hofmannsthal fr:Hugo von Hofmannsthal it:Hugo von Hofmannsthal he:הוגו פון הופמנסתאל hu:Hugo von Hofmannsthal nl:Hugo von Hofmannsthal ja:フーゴ・フォン・ホーフマンスタール no:Hugo von Hofmannsthal pl:Hugo von Hofmannsthal pt:Hugo von Hofmannsthal ru:Гофмансталь, Гуго фон fi:Hugo von Hofmannsthal sv:Hugo von Hofmannsthal
