26 Facts About Alfred Wolfsohn

Alfred Wolfsohn subsequently cured himself by vocalizing extreme sounds, bringing about what he described as a combination of catharsis and exorcism.

Meanwhile, some pupils of Alfred Wolfsohn used the extraordinary vocal range they developed to create performing arts productions, which influenced avant-garde theatre and experimental music.

Alfred Wolfsohn was conscripted to serve as a stretcher-bearer in the trenches of World War I in 1914, when he was eighteen years old.

Alfred Wolfsohn had no formal training in either field, but nonetheless became a critic of traditional vocal pedagogy and an advocate for the principles of analytical psychology developed by Carl Jung.

Alfred Wolfsohn began his teaching in Berlin, whilst working with the opera singer Paula Salomon-Lindberg where he developed a close mentoring relationship with the painter Charlotte Salomon.

Alfred Wolfsohn subscribed to the views of Carl Jung, who proposed that each human psyche comprises a composite of subpersonalities that appear most vividly in dreams.

Alfred Wolfsohn sought to enable the expression of these subpersonalities through distinct vocal sounds.

Alfred Wolfsohn was instrumental in precipitating and inspiring many types of extended vocal technique used by performing artists who incorporate into their performances sounds not usually used in speech or song.

Alfred Wolfsohn was born in Berlin into a German Jewish family.

Alfred Wolfsohn asserted that hearing his mother express both unpleasant screams and beautiful singing contributed to his belief that the human voice should be able to express the complete spectrum of human emotion.

In 1914, Alfred Wolfsohn was conscripted to military service and served as a stretcher bearer in the trenches of World War I along both the Eastern and Western front.

Alfred Wolfsohn complained that his treatment failed to alleviate the auditory hallucinations of the vocal screams he had heard whilst serving in the trenches.

Alfred Wolfsohn later recorded that, after being discharged from hospital, he felt as though he was dead for many years, but came back to life when he started singing.

Alfred Wolfsohn therefore supplemented and eventually replaced the singing lessons with his own experiments, seeking to push his voice to its limits in range and timbre.

In 1933, Hitler became chancellor of Germany, and Alfred Wolfsohn began to experience the discrimination to which all German Jews were subjected at that time.

Alfred Wolfsohn convinced the Nazis to permit a safe haven for talented Jewish artists, so they could perform for an exclusively Jewish public in community centres, synagogues, and private homes.

Alfred Wolfsohn developed a close relationship with Paula Salomon-Lindberg's stepdaughter Charlotte Salomon, whom he mentored.

In January 1939, Charlotte Salomon left Germany for the south of France, and a month later, Alfred Wolfsohn fled Berlin and went to London.

Alfred Wolfsohn volunteered to the British Royal Pioneer Corps but was later discharged, having been classified as an invalid.

On 26 January 1962, Alfred Wolfsohn ceased teaching due to ill health and died after contracting a chest infection while in hospital.

Whilst Alfred Wolfsohn had viewed his approach to singing and vocal expression as primarily a potential adjunct to psychotherapy, Roy Hart sought to appropriate the extended vocal range of his pupils into artistic expression, by devising, rehearsing, and performing experimental theatre with a strong focus on verbal and nonverbal vocal expression.

The group that joined Hart in this endeavour after Alfred Wolfsohn's death named themselves the Roy Hart Theatre.

Alfred Wolfsohn subscribed to the views of Carl Jung, who proposed that each human psyche comprises a composite of subpersonalities that appear most vividly in dreams.

Alfred Wolfsohn believed that by extending the vocal range, it was possible to give this imagery a voice, including what Jung called mini-personalities, later referred to as subpersonalities thereby providing the vocalist with an opportunity to integrate disparate elements of their personality in accordance with the principle of individuation, which was a principal aim of Jung's approach to psychotherapy.

However, the influence and legacy of Alfred Wolfsohn's work is more apparent in performing arts that use extended vocal technique than in any clinical discipline.

Film: Footage and accompanying sound-track showing Alfred Wolfsohn teaching, produced by Leslie Shepard in London 1955.