Francis Hueffer (born Franz Carl Christoph Johann Hüffer; 22 May 1845 – 19 January 1889) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

writer on music,

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

, and

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Biography

Hueffer was born in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

, Germany, on 22 May 1845 to Johann Hermann Hüffer, a politician and editor and his second wife Maria Theresia Julia (Julia) Kaufmann, sister of

Leopold Kaufmann Leopold Ernst Kaufmann (13 March 1821 – 27 February 1898) was a German politician. Brother of the poet and folklorist Alexander Kaufmann, he became Chief Burgomaster of Bonn. Life 1840s-1850s With his brother Alexander, he attended the grammar ...

, Chief Burgomaster (in German Oberbürgermeister) of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and of

Alexander Kaufmann Alexander Kaufmann (14 May 1817 – 1 May 1893) was a German poet and folklorist from Bonn. Biography Kaufmann came from a prominent local family, whose members had served in both the city government and service of the former Elector of Co ...

, poet and folklorist. He was the youngest of the ten children born to his parents' marriage. His father had had seven other children from his first marriage to Amalia Hosius. His paternal grandmother Maria Sophia Franziska Hüffer (née Aschendorff) was the daughter of Wilhelm Aschendorff, himself the son of the founder of Aschendorff Verlags (Aschendorff publishing house; now Aschendorff Group). He studied modern

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

and music in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, and earned a Ph.D. in 1869 from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

for a critical edition of the works of Guillem de Cabestant, a 12th-century

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

. Following his studies, he moved to London in 1869 as a writer on music, and from 1878 worked as chief music critic for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', succeeding

James William Davison James William Davison (5 October 1813 – 24 March 1885) was an English journalist, known as the music critic of ''The Times''. Life The son of James Davison, of a Northumberland family, and the actress Maria Duncan, he was born in London 5 Oct ...

. He wrote a number of books on music, especially on music history and biography; edited the '' Great Musicians'' series for

Novello & Co Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...

; and translated the correspondence of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

and

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

to English. He also wrote the

libretti A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

for several English

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s: Alexander Mackenzie's ''Colomba'' and ''The Troubadour'', and

Frederic Hymen Cowen Sir Frederic Hymen Cowen (29 January 1852 – 6 October 1935), was an English composer, conductor and pianist. Early years and musical education Cowen was born Hymen Frederick Cohen at 90 Duke Street, Kingston, Jamaica, the fifth and last c ...

's ''Sleeping Beauty''. Also succeeding Davison, he became editor of the ''Musical World'' in 1886 and actuated a more musically progressive attitude. He fell ill in the summer of 1888 and died of cancer on 19 January 1889. Hueffer's wife,

Catherine Madox Brown Catherine Madox Brown Hueffer (11 November 1850 – 1927), also known as Cathy, the first child of Ford Madox Brown and Emma Hill, was an artist and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and married to the writer Francis Hueffer. Early li ...

, was the daughter of

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

and the half-sister of

Lucy Madox Brown Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti (19 July 1843 – 12 April 1894) was a British artist, author, and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. She was married to the writer and art critic William Michael Rossetti. Early life Madox Brown was born in P ...

and an artist and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. Their sons,

Ford Madox Hueffer Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review (1924), The Transatlant ...

(better known as Ford Madox Ford) and

Oliver Madox Hueffer Oliver Madox Hueffer (born Oliver Franz Hueffer; 1877 – 22 June 1931), was an author, playwright, and war correspondent. Biography Heuffer was born in 1877 in Surrey to Catherine Madox Brown, an artist, and Francis Hueffer, a German-Englis ...

, were writers and their daughter Juliet Catherine Emma Hueffer was the mother of

Frank Soskice Frank Soskice, Baron Stow Hill, (23 July 1902 – 1 January 1979) was a British lawyer and Labour Party politician. Background and education Soskice's father, was from a family of Russian Jewish merchants. David Soskice became involved in ...

Selected writings

* ''Richard Wagner and the Music of the Future'' (1874) (reissued by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 2009;
(Internet Archive)
* ''The Troubadours: A History of Provençal Life and Literature in the Middle Ages'' (1878
(Internet Archive)
* ''Musical Studies: A Series of Contributions'', a collection of his articles from ''The Times'' and ''

Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000 ...

'' (1880) (reissued by

, 2009;
(Internet Archive)
* ''Wagner'', in the ''Great Musicians'' series (1881) (reissued by

, 2009;
(Internet Archive)
* ''Italian and Other Studies'' (1883
(Google Books)
* ''Half a Century of Music in England: Essays Towards a History'' (1889; 2nd ed. 1898) (reissued by

, 2009;
(Internet Archive)
* ''Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt'' (1889; as translator) (reissued by

, 2009; ) (Project Gutenberg
vol. 1vol. 2

Notes

References

* *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hueffer, Francis 1845 births 1889 deaths English music critics English music historians English music journalists English opera librettists Writers from Münster German emigrants to England University of Göttingen alumni 19th-century British journalists English male journalists English male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English male writers German music critics German music historians German music journalists German opera librettists German male journalists German male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German male writers People from the Province of Westphalia