Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929), Austrian poet, playwright, and essayist, best known for his early lyrical poetry and for his long collaboration as librettist with the composer Richard Strauss, which resulted in six operas, including Der Rosenkavalier (1911).

Hofmannsthal was born in Vienna and studied law at the university there. At the age of 16 his first poems were published and at 17 his first verse playlet, Gestern (Yesterday), all under the pseudonym Loris. His early verse, lyrical and melancholy reflections on appearance and reality, transience and timelessness, brought him instant acclaim in Austria and Germany as a poet of great promise. During the following years he wrote short verse plays, notably Der Tod des Tizian (1892; The Death of Titian, 1913) and Der Tor und der Tod (1893; Death and the Fool, 1913). In these, as in his verse, his aim was to create a mystical, poetic mood. In 1901, Hofmannsthal gave up the writing of lyrics, declaring that language alone was unsatisfying as a means of communication. After this he frequently adapted the work of earlier playwrights and introduced more action. His Jedermann (1911), based on the English morality play Everyman, has been produced at the Salzburg Festival (which he helped to found with the theatre director Max Reinhardt) yearly since 1920.

Richard Strauss adapted Hofmannsthal's play Elektra (1903) as an opera that was performed in 1909. Later, Hofmannsthal wrote five other librettos for Strauss, of which Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne auf Naxos (1912) are regarded as masterpieces.