Paul Höffer

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full namePaul•Höffer
Used namePaul•Höffer
Born21 December 1895 in Barmen, Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen (GER)
Died31 August 1949 in West-Berlin, Berlin (GER) 
NOC Germany
Medals OG
Gold 1
Silver 0
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

German composer Paul Höffer won the gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in the category music of the Art Competitions with his work Olympischer Schwur (Olympic Vow), a work for solo singer, choir and orchestra based on the translation of a Greek text and the modern Olympic Oath. It starts with a fanfare motif. The narrator (baritone) urges the Olympic competitors to abide the rules of the competition. They answer in unison with an oath.

Höffer’s first teacher was his father who taught him piano and organ. After initially being educated as a teacher, Höffer studied music in Köln (Cologne) and, after World War I, in Berlin. From 1923 Höffer taught as a piano teacher at an orchestra school, and in 1933 was named a Professor in Berlin. During the Nazi regime he was supported by Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels. He was on the divine list of the most important composers of the Nazi era. After World War II Höffer became director of the High School for Music in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In the center of his interest was choral music, in which he was very active. At the same time, he turned to the new medium of radio, in which he saw innovative communication possibilities.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1936 Summer Olympics Art Competitions GER Paul Höffer
Music, Compositions For Solo Or Chorus, Open (Olympic) 1 Gold