Carl Wolff (writer)

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Carl Wolff (born November 22, 1884 in Braunschweig , † March 19, 1938 in Hamburg-Altona ) was a German writer and cabaret artist .

Life

Carl Wolff was born in Braunschweig on November 22, 1884, the first of two sons of the chemist Carl Wolff and his wife Louise Catharina. He learned a commercial profession which took him to Venezuela before the First World War . There he met his Spanish wife Angela, geb. Gonzales, know. The two daughters Elsemarie and Anneliese emerged from the marriage.

During the First World War, Wolff served in the German army and was mainly deployed in Alsace . After the war he lived in Hamburg-Altona, where he worked for the Dr. Georg Dralle-Parfümerie- und Feinseifenwerke Hamburg acted as authorized signatory . After the divorce , he lived with his partner Ellen, called Schü.

Wolff died at the age of 53 on March 19, 1938 in Hamburg-Altona as a result of a heart attack . He was buried in the Wolff family grave in Braunschweig.

Act

Before the First World War, Carl Wolff organized many of the so-called “Sunday entertainments” within the framework of the Hamburger Volksheim , in which the workers were introduced to literature, especially Low German poetry, such as Klaus Groth , Johann Hinrich Fehrs , Hermann Claudius , Detlev von Liliencron and Gorch Jib . With Gorch Fock there was a close letter and private friendship, which was expressed in the cooperation, organization and participation in Low German literary events. The venues in Hamburg were the secondary school Barmbek Osterbekstrasse, the secondary school Eimsbüttel Bogenstrasse, the Nedderdüütsh Sellshopp Mühlenkamp, ​​the Steinhauerdamm seminar and the Hotel Kronprinz as part of the Free Literary Association .

In his free time, Carl Wolff drew and wrote poems that were published by Chr. Adolff Verlag in Altona, initially without success. Only his humorous poems brought the breakthrough. In the last months of his life Carl Wolff performed in the famous Hamburg cabaret Bronzekeller and celebrated great success with his verses. During the Nazi regime, the bronze cellar was a meeting and exchange point for opponents of National Socialism . To what extent Carl Wolff was involved is unknown.

One of his grandchildren is the Colombian marksman and Olympic medalist Helmut Bellingrodt .

Appreciation

Hans Harbeck, who put together a volume of poetry from the estate in autumn 1938, praised Wolff's less successful early literary work as “Thoughts and feelings which, for example, in the case of Prince Schönaich-Carolath with an even darker, almost marrow-devouring melancholy, or in the case of Baron Liliencron with even more blossoming Force break out. But the lyricist Carl Wolff lives in a world of true feeling and has an innate security of speech melody. ”His real talent is expressed in the humorous poems that are reminiscent of Wilhelm Busch and Christian Morgenstern . Carl Wolff's humor, however, is "not a poor imitation, but an independent and most welcome extension and continuation of the method used by Morgenstern." Typical of Carl Wolff's humorous poetry are the - often subtle - puns. Two better known examples:

prevention

Should one blame coniferous forests / for their many needles? /
No, because nature is good: / Just there is thimble.

Coolie kids

In the east, among the Chinese, / a woman of twins has recovered. /
A boy and a girl was / what the coolie woman bore. /
He became a coolie like his father / and she was the backdrop to the theater.

Works

  • On quiet paths. Poems. Publishing house Chr. Adolff, Altona-Ottensen 1920.
  • In the shadow of love New poems. Publishing house Chr. Adolff, Altona-Ottensen 1921.
  • Surf. New poems. Publishing house Chr. Adolff, Altona-Ottensen 1924.
  • Moth flight. Selected poems. Publishing house Chr. Adolff, Altona-Ottensen 1924.
  • Between dream and thought. New poems. Publishing house Chr. Adolff, Altona Ottensen 1925.
  • The green suckling pig. Verses of magnets, dandelions and cockroaches. Helingsche Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig, around 1930.
  • Inadequacies. Verses of fish, chairs, abysses and radishes. Helingsche Publishing House, Leipzig 1934.
  • Rainfall. Verses of clouds, wax beans and vain wishes. From the estate, ed. by Hans Harbeck . Hanns Horst Kreisel Verlagbuchhandlung, Leipzig 1938.

Audio books and music CDs

  • Inadequacies. Hans Bunge speaks Carl Wolff, Hans Bunge, Hamburg-Altona 2007
  • The music is coming. Richard Germer sings texts by Carl Wolff, Bear Family Records 2009

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harbeck, afterword in: Precipitations. Pp. 73, 71, 75.
personal data
SURNAME Wolff, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1938
Place of death Hamburg-Altona