HOFMANN, JOSEF CASIMIR (1876-1957), POLISH-U.S., COMPOSER AND ONE OF THE GREATEST PIANISTS OF HIS TIME, WAS BORN AT PODGORZE NEAR CRACOW, JAN. 20, 1876. HE GAVE HIS FIRST CONCERT AT THE AGE OF SIX AND BEGAN TO TOUR THE U.S. AT ELEVEN. HE STUDIED LATER WITH MORITZ MOSZLOWSKI IN BERLIN AND IN 1892 WITH ANTON RUBINSTEIN IN DRESDEN. HE RESUMED HIS PUBLIC CAREER IN 1894 AND FROM 1898 LIVED MAINLY IN THE U.S. HE BECAME A U.S. CITIZEN IN 1926 AND IN THE SAME YEAR WAS APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF THE CURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC, PHILADELPHIA, PA. HE RESIGNIED THE POSITION IN 1938. HIS TECHNICAL PROWESS WAS THE MORE REMARKABLE BECAUSE HIS HANDS WERE SMALL. HIS PLAYING WAS NOBLE AND POETIC, FREE OF ANY ECCENTRICITY AND NEVER ROUTINE. HIS COMPOSITIONS INCLUDED A SYMPHONY, FIVE PIANO CONCERTOS AND A QUANTITY OF SOLO PIANO MUSIC, SOME OF IT PUBLISHED UNDER THE PSEUDONYM OF MICHEL DVORSKY. HOFMANN WAS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF THREE BOOKS ON PIANO PLAYING. HE DIED IN LOS ANGELES, CALIF., ON FEB. 16, 1957. britannica.