A life across the arts
Alongside his literary work, Hoffmann was a composer, conductor, music critic, painter and jurist.
Music · Visual art · Literature
E. T. A. Hoffmann
A major German Romantic author known for fantasy and Gothic horror, including "The Sandman" and "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King."
E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822), born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, was a German Romantic writer, composer, music critic, artist and jurist. His work contributed to fantasy, Gothic horror and early crime fiction, and several of his stories inspired notable ballets, operas and musical compositions.
Worth knowing
The Sandman
Hoffmann's short story "The Sandman" is regarded as a pioneering work of horror fiction.
The story behind The Nutcracker
Hoffmann wrote the novella "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," on which Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker" is based.
An early work of crime fiction
Hoffmann's novella "Mademoiselle de Scuderi" is regarded as one of the earliest examples of crime fiction.
Influence on music and ballet
Jacques Offenbach's opera "The Tales of Hoffmann" draws on Hoffmann's stories and presents a heavily fictionalized version of him as its hero. The ballet "Coppélia" is based on two of his stories, while Robert Schumann's "Kreisleriana" was inspired by Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler.
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