Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889–1977)

Abstract

Dietrich von Hildebrand was born in Florence in 1889, and the circumstances of his birth are significant for his later work in aesthetics. His father was Adolf von Hildebrand, one of the best known German sculptors around the turn of the century. The young von Hildebrand inherited keen sensibilities for art and enjoyed an upbringing that was ideally suited to awakening and developing them. He grew up in his father’s villa in Florence and lived his earliest years immersed in the beauties of Renaissance Florence. Great artists from all over Europe visited the von Hildebrand villa, including Richard Wagner, Henry James, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Richard Strauss (who was visiting on the day of Dietrich’s birth). In 1906 he was invited by the widow of Richard Wagner to the festival of Wagner’s operas in Bayreuth, Germany; it was the beginning of his lifelong passion for the music of Wagner. If it is true that a philosopher can do fruitful work in aesthetics only if s/he brings to the issues of aesthetics some real aesthetic sensibility and some real understanding of art, then Dietrich von Hildebrand was uniquely well prepared to do work in aesthetics.