Hermann and Louise Wolff

 

 

 

Hermann had abandoned a career in music in deference to his father’s wish, but earlier he had studied piano and composition at the renowned Stern Conservatory in Berlin. He could read an orchestral score, was thoroughly familiar with both the classical and the contemporary repertoire. He was an ardent admirer of Richard Wagner and, quasi as a side line, served as an occasional music critic for several Berlin newspapers. A facile and amusing writer, he also wrote occasional poetry for weddings, anniversaries and the like, sometimes for the money, sometimes for his own pleasure. Later, he composed piano pieces in the manner of Anton Rubinstein, not great or original music, but good enough to earn a mention in German music dictionaries down to my time.

 From a radio broadcast by his daughter Edit Wolff, 1957.