The Boy Who Snuck into Josef Hoffman’s Recital
You often find among classical musicians some sort of musical lineage: think Beethoven, who taught Czerny, who taught Liszt. Some lineages, though, are mere chance encounters, as was the case with Josef Hofmann and his young admirer.
By Joseph John L. Verallo · May 12, 2026
Throughout the streets of Kyiv, one name had been making a commotion. Josef Hofmann, the distinguished Polish-American pianist, was announced to be performing in the local conservatory. Among the musical celebrity’s host of admirers was a young boy–going by the nickname Volodya–who was determined to watch Hofmann’s recital.
In many ways, Josef Casimir Hofmann was destined to be another Mozart, just based on the sheer talent the wunderkind displayed on the piano. Like Mozart, Hofmann, as a child, was already impressing huge names in the musical world, with the biggest being the composer Anton Rubinstein, to whom a seven-year-old Hofmann performed Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in C minor, garnering nothing but the highest praise from the composer.
Unfortunately, like Mozart, the young Hoffman also suffered immense pressure from his father to give concerts across Europe and the United States. Hofmann’s father’s exploitation of his son eventually got the attention of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which funded the cancellation of Hofmann’s future tours to ensure the child was safeguarded from the pressures of performance until he turned 18. Till then, Hofmann would study across Europe, boasting mentors such as Moritz Moszkowski, Ignacy Paderewski, and, of course, Anton Rubinstein.
Fast forward to 1911, a 35-year-old Hofmann was giving a recital in Kyiv, with the event selling out before one Sophie Gorovitz could procure any tickets. This, however, didn’t stop her eight-year-old son, Volodya Gorovitz, who slyly snuck into the auditorium behind the legs of a tall man, evading ushers, and hiding within one of the hall’s dark corners.
Tucked in his neat little corner for the next two hours, Volodya listened as Hoffman performed his renditions of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Moszkowski. Returning home inspired, Volodya was determined to reach that level of virtuosity and artistry.
Unlike Hofmann, the boy was not a child prodigy, although he did display well above-average talent on the piano. Fortunately, his mother Sophie studied piano at Kyiv’s Royal Music School and taught the young Volodya, along with his sister. He would then be enrolled in the Kyiv Conservatory, nearing his ninth birthday in 1912.
Eventually, Volodya would come to establish himself as a fine pianist. Outgrowing his boyhood nickname, Volodya Gorovitz–now Vladimir Gorovitz–would tour the Soviet Union before traveling to Berlin, where he would westernize his name to “Horowitz.” Finally, emigrating to the United States, he would come to be a household name denoting possibly the world’s finest piano virtuoso: Vladimir Horowitz.
