Richard Hoffman was born on March 24, 1831 in Manchester, England. He was the son of Richard Hoffman Andrews, an English composer, and his wife, Helen Harries. He appeared in public at the age of six, playing the piano, violin, and concertina.
Hoffman studied with his father and with Leopold de Meyer, Austrian pianist and composer.
Hoffman came to New York in 1847 and as a boy of sixteen made his début in the Old Broadway Tabernacle in a program of bravura numbers including Leopold de Meyer's "Senuramis. " Shortly afterward he played Mendelssohn's G minor concerto with the New York Philharmonic Society.
In 1848 he undertook a concert tour through the upper part of the state and into Canada, with Burke, the Irish actor-violinist, and on his return to New York in 1850 he was engaged by P. T. Barnum to serve as accompanist and solo artist for Jenny Lind in her first series of concerts in America. After this tour he established himself in New York as a concert pianist, composer, and teacher. He played with Louis Moreau Gottschalk, when the latter appeared in New York during his concert tour of 1853; and in 1875 he played with von Bülow, Bach's "Triple concerto" in D minor. For many years he appeared regularly in the Philharmonic concerts.
On December 1, 1897, he was tendered a testimonial concert at Chickering Hall to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his first appearance in New York. In his last years he gradually gave up playing in public, though he continued his teaching, at which he was very successful. Like his playing, his teaching reflected the most valid traditions of his earlier period. The same might be said of his compositions, of which there were many. Aside from various piano transcriptions, a set of "Cuban Dances, " and some part songs and anthems, he wrote nearly a hundred salon compositions, typical of the virtuoso age at its best. He died at Mount Kisco, New York. His reminiscences were posthumously published under the title Some Musical Recollections of Fifty Years (1910).
Hoffman is remembered as a prominent pianist and composer. He composed music for the piano, songs, anthems, ballads and church music, and attained an international reputation for his performances. For years he was an outstanding figure among New York pianists and was associated with some noteworthy events in the musical history of the city. He was undoubtedly a pianist of distinction, and his playing, while it had the brilliance of his virtuoso teachers, was always marked by fastidious good taste.
Hoffman was elected as honorary member of the Philharmonic Society.
On March 29, 1869, Hoffman married Fidelia Marshall Lamson. They had two children.
