Witt and Hoffmann from CPO

[sdtom]

Has anyone ever read the reviews Hoffmann did of some of Beethoven's work. I understand there was a book printed of his reviews.
Tom

[eschiss1]

Here's the review of Beethoven's 5th symphony, in German.

http://85.214.96.74:8080/zbk/zbk-html/A1094.html

("Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus: Rezension der 5. Symphonie von Ludwig van Beethoven. In Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung 12 (1810), Nr. 40, Sp. 630–642 u. Nr. 41, Sp. 652–659.")

[sdtom]

 E.T.A. Hoffmann's Writings on Music, Collected in a Single Volume (2004).

This was the book I was talking about. My Minneapolis library doesn't have it. Wish I could read German.
Tom

[Gareth Vaughan]

Available on Amazon.co.uk here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hoffmanns-Musical-Writings-Kreisleriana-Criticism/dp/0521543398/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425583039&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=E.T.A.+Hoffmann%27s+Writings+on+Music%2C+Collected+in+a+Single+Volume
It's not cheap though!

[sdtom]

Will check it out and decide if it is worth the investment. Thanks for the info.
Tom

[eschiss1]

My public library does (restricted in various ways, depending- no CDs, only certain participating libraries,...) out-of-system interloans (through Worldcat searches)- maybe yours does too? Might be possible for you to borrow it instead of buy it... the 2003 edition (it's originally from 1989) has OCLC 52783394 , most of the 1989 ones are either out-of-country or Internet Resources and probably not ILL-able from within the US by a public library (I'm guessing) so I'd give a go to that last OCLC...

[sdtom]

My curiosity is the driving force in this but I'm going to follow up on this for sure.
Tom

[adriano]

E. T. A. Hoffmann was not only a composer and musicologist, but - in first line - one of Germany's greatest Romantic/Fantastic/Grotesque writers! His novels inspired Offenbach, Lortzing, Templeton Strong, Tchaikovsky, Busoni etc. etc. For his own opera "Undine" he did not write a libretto himself, but commissioned Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, one of Germany's very first Romantic poets. Hoffmann's music is, actually, less crazy and hauting than his novels! There is a (German) Kindle edition of his study on Beethoven (only 9 pages):
http://www.amazon.de/Beethovens-Instrumentalmusik-E-T-Hoffmann-ebook/dp/B0057H0WCW/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425771006&sr=1-2&keywords=e.+t.+a.+hoffmann+music

[sdtom]

Hoffmann was quite the talent. I always thought that Poe's "Murder in the Rue Morgue" was at least by some to be the first detective story until I found out that "Madame de Scudery" may have influenced him in his writing as well as "Fantasy, Irony, and the Grotesque." Would like to read some of his work.
Tom

[adriano]

@sdtom
If you search for English translations, have a look at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31377/31377-h/31377-h.htm
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hoffmann/eta/scuderi/