Karel Hoffmann was a Czech

Czech people

Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 violinist and music pedagogue, a founding member and first violinist of the Bohemian Quartet

Bohemian Quartet

The Bohemian Quartet were a Czech string quartet of international repute that was founded in 1891 and disbanded in 1934.- Origins :The Quartet was founded in Budapest by three pupils of Antonín Bennewitz and a pupil of Hanuš Wihan ; Bennewitz and Wihan were both teachers at the Prague Conservatory...

. In 1926–1927 he was appointed the rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of the Prague Conservatory

Prague Conservatory

Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech Pražská konzervatoř, is a Czech secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting.- Instruction :...

.

Biography

Hoffmann was born in Prague-Smíchov

Smíchov

Smíchov is a district of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and is part of Prague 5. It is located on the west bank of the Vltava river....

, as the ninth child of weaver Karel Hoffmann. He was a weak child, and one of his older brothers chose for him the violin as a "lighter work". In 1885 he began his studies at the Prague Conservatory, as a pupil in the class of Antonín Bennewitz

Antonín Bennewitz

Antonín Bennewitz was a Czech violinist, conductor and teacher. He was in a line of violinists that extended back to Giovanni Battista Viotti, and forward to Jan Kubelík and Wolfgang Schneiderhan....

. The first important event of his career was his entry to the chamber music class of Hanuš Wihan

Hanuš Wihan

Hanuš Wihan was a renowned Czech cellist, considered the greatest of his time. He was strongly associated with the works of Antonín Dvořák, whose Rondo in G minor, Op. 94, the short piece Silent Woods, Op. 68, and most particularly the Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 were all dedicated to him...

. There he met Josef Suk

Josef Suk (composer)

Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...

, Oskar Nedbal

Oskar Nedbal

Oskar Nedbal was a Czech violist, composer, and conductor of classical music.-Life:Nedbal was born in Tábor, in southern Bohemia. He studied the violin at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz...

 and Otto Berger – his future colleagues and collaborators from the Bohemian Quartet. They founded the quartet officially in 1892, and the activity of the ensemble lasted 42 years. Hoffmann was the only permanent member of the ensemble throughout its 1892-1934 existence. In 1934, after the death of violist Jiří Herold, Hoffmann together with Ladislav Zelenka and Jan Heřman

Jan Herman

Jan Heřman is a Czech professional ice hockey player. He played with HC Plzeň in the Czech Extraliga during the 2010–11 Czech Extraliga season....

 founded the Bohemian Trio.

At the end of the 19th century, in addition to his chamber music activities Hoffmann began to assert himself also as a soloist. He played the solo violin part in the first Prague performance of the Double Concerto in A minor

Double Concerto (Brahms)

The Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102, by Johannes Brahms is a concerto for violin, cello and orchestra.- Origin of the work :The Double Concerto was Brahms' final work for orchestra. It was composed in the summer of 1887, and first performed on 18 October of that year in the Gürzenich in Köln,...

 by Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

, together with composer Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...

 he performed the Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op.45

Sonatas for Violin and Piano (Grieg)

Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg wrote three violin sonatas. They are all fine examples of his musical nationalism, since they all contain references or similarities to Norwegian folk song....

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, and the Czech composer Josef Suk dedicated some of his works to him. In 1901 he performed together with Czech Philharmonic the Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53

Violin Concerto (Dvorák)

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 is a concerto for violin and orchestra composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1879. The concerto was premiered in 1883 by František Ondříček in Prague. He also gave the premieres in Vienna and London...

 by Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Dvorák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

 in Vienna.

In the "Spolek pro moderní hudbu" (Society for Modern Music) Hoffmann collaborated with renowned Czech and foreign artists – Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová

Ilona Štepánová-Kurzová

Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová was a Czech concert pianist and piano teacher, a professor at the Prague Academy of Arts. Her students included Ivan Moravec. Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová was the mother of pianist Pavel Štěpán.- Biography :Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová belongs to notable representatives of the Czech...

, Rudolf Karel

Rudolf Karel

Rudolf Karel was a distinguished Czech composer.-Brief Biography:Rudolf Karel was son of a poor railway employee. He studied composition from 1899 to 1904 with Antonín Dvořák and organ with Josef Klička in Prague...

, Jaroslav Křička

Jaroslav Kricka

Jaroslav Křička was a Czech composer.He was born in Kelč and died in Prague.In 1936 he won a bronze medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "Mountain Suite".-External links:*...

, Josef Bohuslav Förster, Ladislav Vycpálek

Ladislav Vycpálek

Ladislav Vycpálek was a Czech composer and violist.Vycpálek studied composition under Vítězslav Novák. However, he very soon found his own expressive style. He mainly composed choral works. Prior to World War I, he occupied himself with setting Czech and German symbolist poetry to music, then he...

, Jan Kunc

Jan Kunc

Jan Kunc was a Czech composer, pedagogue and writer.- Life :He was a pupil of Czech composer Leoš Janáček in teacher's institution and organ school . He studied composition with Vítězslav Novák from 1905 to 1906...

, Arthur Honegger

Arthur Honegger

Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...

, Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

, Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...

 and Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...

 among others.

In 1932 he became ill and the same year he underwent a surgery. He recovered for a short time and resumed his activities. However, the second surgery in 1934 was unsuccessful and Karel Hoffmann died of cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.