Roman Hoffstetter

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Roman Hoffstetter (1742-1815) was a classical music composer and Benedictine monk who also admired the famous composer Joseph Haydn almost to the point of imitation. Some of his compositions (namely the six String Quartets of Opus #3 otherwise known as 'Haydn's Serenade') were mistakenly attributed to his famed contemporary Joseph Haydn, but it should be stated that the musical compositions consisting of Opus #33 have been proved to be the genuine labor of Haydn. [1]

Hoffstetter was admitted to his postulancy at Amorbach monastery in 1763, and remained until the monastery was secularized in 1803. Between his birth and his admission to Amorbach nothing is known; however, he must have had early training in violin because he was quickly integrated into Amorbach's lively artistic milieu, ultimately becoming attracted to the sound of the viola. He succeeded in due time to the position of Regens chori (choir director) and could also play organ. Besides his string quartets (which have had to be carefully researched for stylistic earmarks that distinguish them clearly from Haydn), Hoffstetter is known for three viola concertos which date from 1785. They are arguably the most virtuosic vehicles for viola written in the eighteenth century, and represent the apex of Hoffstetter's creative career.[Fine, M., "The Viola Concertos of Fr. Roman Hoffstetter, OSB", DMA diss., Memphis St. Univ., 1990]

Hoffstetter is also known for his friendship with the German/Swedish composer Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792), who was born in Amorbach. This friendship began about 1782-3 and continued through Kraus's appointment as court composer to Gustavus Adolphus III, to Kraus's death. The Viola Concertos are connected with this friendship; Kraus brought manuscripts of them to Sweden, which are preserved at the University of Lund.[ibid.] However, most of Hoffstetter's correspondence has been destroyed (probably by Hoffstetter himself). Only two letters from Kraus, and nine others written in 1800-02 to the Swedish diplomat Frederik Silverstolpe (Kraus's biographer), have been preserved in any form.[Unverricht, H. "Die Beide Hoffstetter," 1968]

Following the secularization of Amorbach, Hoffstetter retired, almost completely deaf and blind, to Miltenberg am Main with his abbot, Benedikt Kuelsheimer. Evidence suggests that he spent the last years of his life trying to secure a performance of his last work, a Mass.[Fine, op. cit.]