Meanwhile : Hoffmann reads Beethoven

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Meanwhile : Hoffmann reads Beethoven

Published: 06 Mar. 2026, 00:05

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Na Sung-in

The author is a music critic and director of the classical music brand Poongwoldang.

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (1776–1822) worked as a musician before achieving recognition as a writer. He admired Mozart so deeply that he changed his middle name from Wilhelm to Amadeus. Yet, admiration did not translate into financial stability. Hoffmann struggled to make a living and his career was marked by repeated misfortune.

Self-portrait of Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (1776–1822). Collection of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. [WIKIPEDIA]

In September 1808 he was appointed music director at the theater in Bamberg. The position quickly proved untenable. Orchestra members had already formed their own alliances and largely ignored the instructions of their new conductor. Performances deteriorated and Hoffmann had little opportunity to correct the situation. Within two months, he lost the post. The small house that still remains in Bamberg reflects the modest and difficult circumstances he endured during that period.

Yet, during this difficult moment, Hoffmann made an important intellectual leap. Though forced off the conductor’s podium, he could still write. He published an essay on Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, a Leipzig-based music journal. Written little more than a year after the symphony’s premiere on Dec. 22, 1808, the essay captured the essence of Beethoven’s music with unusual clarity. It revealed not only Hoffmann’s deep musical knowledge but also his remarkably forward-looking aesthetic perspective.

Hoffmann described Beethoven’s music as awakening a sense of infinite longing, a defining element of Romanticism. In his words, Beethoven’s music “sets in motion the levers of fear, trembling, terror and pain and awakens that endless yearning which is the essence of Romanticism.”

For Hoffmann, the experience of suffering deepened the will to live. This realization became a turning point in his own creative life. Through Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (1808), widely known in Korea as the “Fate” symphony, Hoffmann believed he had glimpsed the depths of human suffering and the inner life of the soul.

From that point forward, he turned increasingly to the darker aspects of the human psyche, exploring realms that reason alone could not fully grasp. His literary imagination focused on the hidden and unsettling dimensions of human experience.

By confronting pain and darkness, Hoffmann believed one could protect the essential power of human imagination. This effort also meant exploring a vast realm long overlooked: the mystery of the human soul.

In that sense Beethoven’s music served as a kind of midwife for Hoffmann’s literary career. Music and literature, like sister arts, can assist one another in deepening humanity’s understanding of itself.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.