The son of Martin Wolff and Marguerite Jolowicz,[1] he was born in Berlin, Germany, on 11 March 1907.
[3] He received his Doctor of Law degree at the University of Berlin, and forged lifelong friendships with classmates Stephan Kuttner and Hsu Dau-lin.
He studied piano under Josef Lomba, who had been a student of Franz Liszt, as well as under Bruno Elsner, and the Austrian pianist Artur Schnabel.
[2][3][4] In France, he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris (1934–1935), and met and married the photographer Ilse Bing.
[2] Although he performed as a concert pianist and in chamber music groups, he devoted himself to teaching and research.