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Hugo von Hofmannsthal (February 1, 1874 - July 15, 1929), was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
Hofmannsthal was born in Vienna, the son of an upper-class Austrian mother and an Austrian-Italian bank manager. His great-grandfather, to whom his family owed the noble title "von Hofmannsthal," was a Jewish merchant ennobled by the Austrian emperor. He began to write poems and plays from an early age. He met the German poet Stefan George at the age of seventeen, and had several poems published in George's journal, Blätter für die Kunst. He studied law, and later philology in Vienna, but decided to devote himself to writing upon graduating in 1901. Along with Peter Altenberg and Arthur Schnitzler, he was a member of the avant garde group Young Vienna (Junges Wien). Hofmannsthal met the composer Richard Strauss, and wrote libretti for several of his operas, including Elektra (1909), Der Rosenkavalier (1911), Ariadne auf Naxos (1913, rev. 1916), Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919) and Arabella (1933).
In 1912 he adapted the 15th century English morality play Everyman as Jedermann, and Jean Sibelius (amongst others) wrote incidental music for it. The play became a staple at the Salzburg Festival, which Hofmannsthal founded with Max Reinhardt in 1920. His later plays revealed a growing interest in religious, and particularly Roman Catholic themes.
He died of a stroke shortly after the suicide of his son Franz in Rodaun, Vienna.
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1874 births | 1929 deaths | Austrian dramatists and playwrights | Austrian nobility | Austrian novelists | Austrian poets | Austrian writers | Opera librettists | Young Vienna
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"Hugo von Hofmannsthal"