Elsa Laura Wolzogen

[1] She was born and grew up in Dresden, where her family owned a guesthouse which entertained well-known artists and scholars like Arthur Rubinstein.

Ernst had opened the 650-seat Buntes Theater in Berlin in 1901, one of the first cabarets in Germany.

[3] Elsa often sang and accompanied herself on lute at the theater,[4] where Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg conducted the house orchestra.

An unidentified critic noted in 1911 that "Elsa Laura sings songs in ten different languages and in many dialects. ...

"[6] Elsa composed her own songs and arranged hundreds of French, German and Scandinavian folk songs for voice and lute, which were published by Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag in Leipzig.