Hoffmann (1776–1822) is best known as the author whose stories inspired The Nutcracker and Coppélia, two staples of the ballet repertory. Hoffmann was born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann in Königsberg in the Kingdom of Prussia. Hoffmann’s life took another sudden turn after Napoleon invaded Warsaw and he lost his job. Hoffmann was a huge figure in German Romanticism, which rejected modernity and the scientific thinking of the Enlightenment. Widely read in the 19th century, his works inspired musical compositions by Robert Schumann and Jacques Offenbach, who wrote the opera Tales of Hoffmann.