Hofmann, Josef (1876–1957)

Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876–February 16, 1957) was a Polish American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.

He began learning the piano very early and gave concerts in front of Warsaw audiences at the age of eight, to audiences of many European countries at the age of ten, and also to the American audiences a year later. After performing 52 concerts in ten weeks in 1887, he had to interrupt the tour following a protest by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, dictated by fear for his health. Then he went to Berlin, where, thanks to the Alfred Corning Clark scholarship, he studied in the years 1888-1894. In 1894, he won the first prize at the Anton Rubinstein Competition (of which he was a student) in Hamburg, where he performed his Concerto in D minor, Op. 70. This success allowed him to perform numerous, very popular performances, incl. in the Scandinavian countries, England and Russia. Every year he also toured the United States, whose citizenship he received in 1926.

He was also a composer (pseudonym Michel Dvorsky) of works for orchestra and piano. He ended his piano career on January 19, 1946 with a recital at Carnegie Hall.