Claire waldoff biography
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Women Who Paved the Way: Cabaret Singer Claire Waldoff
March is Women's History Month, and with Donald Trump and his administration in power, there's never been a better time to honor all women. Throughout the month The Advocate will feature queer pioneers whose strength, resilience, and ingenuity paved the way for others. Today's woman to know is Claire Waldoff.
Who she was: A popular cabaret artist in Berlin in the early 20th century, who saw her career decline because of her lesbian identity and her opposition to the Nazi regime.
What she accomplished: The performing arts flourished in Berlin between the world wars, and with her rough but appealing voice, tousled red hair, and frankly sexual songs, Waldoff (1884-1957) was one of the city's most distinctive personalities. She was born Clara Wortmann in the industrial town of Gelsenkirchen, the daughter of a coal miner, and for a time she had an ambition to become a doctor. But after her parents divorc
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Claire Waldoff
Claire Waldoff | |
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| Birth name | Clara Wortmann |
| Born | (1884-10-21)21 October 1884 Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia, Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 22 January 1957(1957-01-22) (aged 72) Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, West Germany |
| Genres | Cabaret (Kabarett), Music hall, Operetta, Revue, Schlager |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actress |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1903–1942 |
Musical artist
Claire Waldoff (21 October 1884 – 22 January 1957), born Clara Wortmann, was a German singer. She was a famous kabarett singer and entertainer in Berlin during the 1910s to the 1930s, chiefly known for performing ironic songs in the Berlin dialect and with lesbian undertones and themes.
Biography
[edit]Wortmann was born the eleventh child of sixteen in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia, where her parents owned a tavern. After completing Gymnasium school in Hanover, she trained as an actress and chose as her pseudonym Claire Waldoff. In 1903, she got her first th
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Instagram series Claire Waldoff: The non-conformist icon
German singer and cabaret artist Claire Waldoff extolled feminism, free love and a free life earlier than many others. She preferred to perform in men's clothing and shaped the Berlin cabaret scene of the Golden Twenties with her unmistakable voice - until the National Socialists made her performances impossible. However, she remains a role model for many stage actors to this day.
When the English poet W. H. Auden moved to Berlin with his friend Christopher Isherwood in 1928, the pair were attracted more than anything else by the city’s free and easy nightlife. Auden considered Berlin to be a dream for homosexuals, and Isherwood recorded his impressions in his Berlin Stories, on which he later based his musical Cabaret. These were the years when the city on the River Spree attracted not only Auden and Isherwood, but many other people from all corners of the globe. Berlin was regarded as