posted May 16, 2008
The speech made by President Bush in Israel this week in which he spoke of the holocaust, and I saw the great holocaust survivor, Elie Weisel, sitting in the audience, brought to mind my own salient experiences in connection with that period of history. Had it not been for that excruciating historical time, my life would not have been at all what it has been in the way of music, for it was the fleeing of my eminent and marvelous teachers (at the University of Chattanooga and Cadek Conservatory) from the rampages of Nazi Germany under the leadership of Adolph Hitler that made my studies with two of the most famous musicians of Europe possible. I am still amazed at my good fortune which emanated from their torturous condition.
My first experience with either of the Wolffs was on matriculation day at Tennessee Wesleyan College in the fall of 1943. I had not met Mrs. Wolff and was excited when I learned she was to sing on the program that day. When her time came, she stood beautifully erect, her head covered by a wide-brimmed soft hat of material that framed her glowing milk-white face, and she sang, of all things, "God Bless America" with a very touching fervor, especially since she had arrived on our shores under the most trying circumstances.
Dr. and Mrs. Wolff had been opera performers at the opera in Hamburg, Germany for many years and had worked all over Europe with the most distinguished companies when it became clear to them that they should leave. Dr. Wolff's mother, fondly called "Queen Louise" because of her powerful agency in Berlin in which she, after the death of her husband, held the contracts of most of the most famous musicians in the world, such as Artur Rubenstein, was forced from her agency when Hitler began his anti-Jewish malevolence. Dr. Wolff's mother was in her eighties and being forcibly removed from her work was too much for her, causing her death. Dr. Wolff's sister, Lillie, had already been sent to a concentration camp and died there; his other sister, Edith Stargardt and her husband had managed to make it to America and resided in Chicago.
Dr. and Madame Wolff had to split up, he to Holland and she to Switzerland, while they waited for some time for visas permitting them to leave Europe. At long last, Madame Wolff and her daughter, and Dr. Wolff were reunited in New York and waited for a musical position to become available. New York was crowded with European musicians who had fled as had they and so jobs were scarce. It just so happened that the President of Tennessee Wesleyan, in 1939, had gone to New York realizing he might find a musician to head the music department at his school. Dr. Wolff applied for the job and was hired, and his wife, the gracious and fabulous Emmy Land-Wolff came along and was given a job as voice teacher and voice coach at the school.
Enter - Mildred Perry Miller. My benefactress, Mrs. Henry Pfeiffer of New York City, was also a benefactress of Methodist schools and colleges and was very familiar with what was going on at Tennessee Wesleyan College. In the spring of 1943 she came to my hometown of Cedartown, Ga. where she had provided hundreds of thousands of dollars for aid and buildings for the children's home where I was living. She asked what about my opportunities for college and when told I had none, she immediately suggested Tennessee Wesleyan and said she would pay all of the bills because she knew about Dr. and Mrs. Wolff and thought they would be the perfect teachers for me. They were.
So two years of study passed at Tennessee Wesleyan. Madame Wolff would ride the train from Chattanooga to Athens late on Monday, teach all day Tuesday, and then ride the train back to Chattanooga. I was enthralled every moment I spent with her. She was so darling, so cute, so beautiful, so understanding, and I was one of the rare ones who could understand her still thick German accent, although in time she improved tremendously. In 1945 I was sent by Miss Harpst and Mrs. Pfeiffer to Chattanooga to continue my voice studies and obtain a degree in music which occurred in 1947.
Dr. Wolff and Mrs. Wolff had outward manifestations of their prominence in Europe. Over the fireplace in their living room in their home on Barton Avenue was a framed, autographed likeness of the great Johannes Brahms, signed "Du bist wie eine koenigen" (You are my queen) to Dr. Wolff's mother. On another wall hung a signed picture of the great song writer, Hugo Wolf. All around the house were indications of their past in Europe, including an autographed picture of Anton Rubenstein. The Wolff agency managed Anton Dvorak, and other great musicians such as Anton Bruckner, Englebert Humperdinck, the composer of "Hansel and Gretel" and nearly ever musician of any note in all of the European continent. Dr. Wolff studied composing with Humperdinck and Brahms had visited his home when he was just a boy.
I cannot tell you how wonderful it was for us students to work with this independent couple who had left fame and fortune behind to come to America for "freiheit" (freedom) and how we adored them as much as they appreciated us. I had never seen an opera but was so trained by them that I wound up singing opera with them over a span of 16 years. Madame Wolff died of heart problems at age 66 in 1955 and Dr. Wolff continued his role as conductor for a few more years. The last opera under his direction was "Rigoletto" on April 21, 1959. By the time Dr. Wolff had ended his tenure as conductor, I had been able to sing roles in 17 operas and was in the chorus in many other productions. I heard from him several times after he had gone back to Europe and was living in Ruschlikon, Switzerland. In one of the letters he wrote "You were so charming and sweet" and then he added an afterthought which tickled me, "but not always," he wrote. Well, we did have our ups and downs because he was an autocrat and I was sometimes a "smart aleck" but we got along and I have never loved anyone outside my family like I did Dr. and Madame Werner Wolff, and I have never admired anyone more, either. What they did for Chattanooga in establishing an opera company where young singers could have opportunities to learn and sing opera could never be replicated. Rarely did a city the size of Chattanooga have and support such a company. They were unique, brilliant, giving, hard working, loving, accomplished persons of magnificent quality. And they were Christians, being valued members of the First Presbyterian Church.
One more word. My daughter was able to locate (from the Hamburg Opera) recordings of singers from that Opera House from the 1880s through 1945. On one of the four CDs there is my precious Emmy Land singing "Dove Sono" from "The Marriage of Figaro." (1927) She makes the most heavenly and gorgeous sounds I have ever heard from a human throat. My daughter is named "Emmy" for her and is so proud of her name. I wish all of you could hear the recording. Madame was very proud of her little namesake. They are gone but will never be forgotten. Dr. Lindsey, professor at the University, and friend of the Wolffs, said that Dr. Wolff was the most brilliant, talented, and interesting person he ever met.
Mildred Perry Miller
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