Another pointless thread

Man was a genius - bit like Ustinov

T

That does not help

Has anybody heard from HG since he went for a drink with his old boss??

Sorry Barrie - I thought you had wobbly web access

He was an extremely funny storyteller/raconteur................

Early years

Born in Berlin, and named Gerhard, he was the only child of a well-to-do Jewish couple, Hildegard and Ludwig Hoffnung. He was sent to England, where he attended Bunce Court School in 1938. In 1939, his parents left Germany, initially for Florence and then for London, and Hoffnung then attended Highgate School, while his father went to what was then the British Mandate of Palestine to enter the family's banking business. This temporary separation became permanent as a consequence of World War II.

Career

Hoffnung died of a cerebral haemorrhage only 20 years after arriving in England, but filled those two decades with considerable achievements as - amongst other things - a cartoonist, tuba player, impresario, broadcaster and public speaker, much sought after by the Oxford and Cambridge Unions.

Hoffnung published a series of books of cartoons poking gentle fun at conductors and orchestral instrumentalists. After his death, some of these were turned into a short animated film by Halas and Batchelor under the title The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra, which won a number of awards in 1965-66.

He created three Hoffnung Music Festivals held at the Royal Festival Hall in London. These featured contributions from distinguished "serious" musicians. Compositions specially commissioned for the Festivals included Malcolm Arnold's A Grand, Grand Overture, Op. 57 which was dedicated to U.S. President Herbert Hoover and was scored for several vacuum cleaners and other domestic appliances. Franz Reizenstein's Concerto Popolare was described as "The Piano Concerto to end all Piano Concertos". William Walton conducted a one-note excerpt from his oratorio Belshazzar's Feast: the word, "Slain!" shouted by the chorus.

Much of Hoffnung's own humour relies on timing. A notable example is the 'Bricklayer's Lament' which was part of his 1958 Oxford Union Speech.

Hoffnung's life was in the tradition of the Great British Eccentric, despite his continental origins. He affected, consciously or otherwise, the persona of an elderly music master, a role honed while teaching at Stamford School, where his eccentricities are remembered to this day. His voice had the hoarseness one associates with age, its cadences slow and faltering after the fashion of the old, or perhaps in homage to Colonel Blimp. His eccentricities were legendary, to the point where stories about him are fantastic enough to be believable, as nobody would think of making them up. For instance, he is said to have been fanatical about learning to whistle entire symphonies, even calling friends who were conductors and whistling down the phone line at them to check his memory. Describing his cartooning, he seemed to regard it as something not under conscious control:


I would try to draw something, a chair for instance, and there it would be - with an expression. I had almost nothing to do with it.

Try as he might, any inanimate object he drew seemed to take on a personality, so it is not surprising that he turned to caricature and surreal exaggeration, as in the drawing of the musician being devoured by the Serpent he is trying to play. Another drawing features a singer whose waistcoat buttons are control knobs labelled Loud/Soft, Wobble, and Sob.

His public persona as an eccentric and wit does, however, overshadow his more thoughtful and serious side. He joined the Quakers in 1955 and was active in their prisoner visiting scheme. Moreover, according to a biographical sketch by Joel Marks, first published in Essays in Arts and Sciences (University of New Haven, Volume XXI, 10/1992), Hoffnung's


outlook on race relations, homosexuality, nuclear disarmament, the treatment of animals (especially hunting) and, for that matter, the music of Bartók and Schoenberg [was] liberal and impassioned.

He learned to play the tuba well enough to take the stage for the Tuba Concerto by Vaughan Williams as well as being an active participant (and jester) for Morley College Orchestra, a much respected amateur ensemble in London. Hoffnung's home functioned as a kind of salon for musicians, artists, writers and friends in general.

After his death, his concert concept was kept alive by his widow, Annetta, and collaborators. The latest event was performed in Lausanne Switzerland on 31 December 2005. His son, Ben Hoffnung, is a professional timpanist who can be seen with groups including the London Mozart Players and The Sixteen. Hoffnung's uncle was Bruno Adler, a German art historian and writer who, during the war, wrote for the German language department of the BBC.

Probably chopping wood somewhere

Hoffnung

One word only needed

Genius

Totally agree.

It was one book in the school library that was always out. I managed to get hold of only 1 edition for 1 week during my entire secondary education.


http://monologues.co.uk/004/Bricklayers_Story.htm


Bernard

One thing Hoffnung taught me which has been invaluable:

"The navel is an ideal place to keep the salt when eating celery in bed"

...and of course when talking of the greats we must mention Victor Borge

Yes I've forgotten how many times he won Wimbledon

I think you're thinking of Björn Ulvaeus!

How about Tom Lehrer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY

Bernard

Am I the one who keeps getting the you have won an Iphone advert on this forum:

I guess not

I don't have to iron another shirt for at least 4 weeks. That is a holiday in itself.