Karel Hoffmann

Karel Hoffmann (12 December 1872 – 30 March 1936) was a Czech violinist and music pedagogue, a founding member and first violinist of the Bohemian Quartet. In 1926–1927, he was appointed the rector of the Prague Conservatory.

Biography Hoffmann was born in Smíchov (today a part od Prague), as the ninth child of weaver Karel Hoffmann. He was a weak child, and one of his older brothers chose for him to learn the violin as a "lighter work".

Hoffmann began to assert himself also as a soloist at the end of the 19th century, in addition to his chamber music activities. He played the solo violin part in the first Prague performance of the Double Concerto in A minor by Johannes Brahms. He also performed the Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op.45 in Vienna together with composer Edvard Grieg, 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 by Antonín Dvořák in Vienna.

In the "Spolek pro moderní hudbu" (Society for Modern Music) Hoffmann collaborated with renowned Czech and foreign artists – Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová, Rudolf Karel, Jaroslav Křička, Josef Bohuslav Förster, Ladislav Vycpálek, Jan Kunc, Arthur Honegger, Maurice Ravel, Ottorino Respighi and Paul Hindemith among others.

In 1932, he developed cancer and was forced to undergo surgery. He recovered for a short time and resumed his activities. However, a second surgery in 1934 was unsuccessful and Karel Hoffmann died in Prague on 30 March 1936.