Background
Tofte was born on 21 October 1832 in Copenhagen, Denmark, to distiller Hans Larsen Tofte (1798–1857) and Mathilde Pedersen (1812–1867).
Tofte was born on 21 October 1832 in Copenhagen, Denmark, to distiller Hans Larsen Tofte (1798–1857) and Mathilde Pedersen (1812–1867).
To that end, he took Tofte at a young age to concerts to hear great artists like Miska Hauser, Hubert Léonard, Carl Moeser and François Prume. In the fall of 1850, when the Music Society formed its own orchestra under the direction of Niels West. Gade, Tofte was one of its early violinists. Gade"s recommendation was for Tofte to study with the "violin king" Joseph Joachim in Hannover.
Tofte followed the advice and went to study with Joachim from 1853 to 1856.
Occasionally he studied with Louis Spohr in Kassel. After his return, he made his debut in May 1856 with great acclaim in the Music Society Orchestra.
He worked in this association as a soloist and performed chamber music concerts with a quartet consisting of Christian Schiørring, Vilhelm Christian Holm and Franz Neruda. In 1863 he was hired for the Royal Danish Orchestra, as a member and a soloist.
He alternated as a soloist with Christian Schiørring, until his resignation in 1893.
Foreign his long and important career he was in 1893 honored with the title of professor He taught until 1904, training an entire school of violinists in Denmark. lieutenant is estimated that he taught over 300 violinists and almost two generations of artists, including Anton Svendsen, Frederick Hilmer, Frida Schytte, Fini Henriques, Frederik Rung, Victor Bendix, Carl Nielsen, and Georg Høeberg.