Till I wake by Clara Serena

Sung by Clara Serena with piano accompaniment by Roy Mellish. Music by Amy Woodforde-Finden, words by Laurence Hope (the pseudonym used by Adele Florence Nicolson).

Clara Serena was born Clara Serena Hulda Kleinschmidt at Lobethal in 1890.  A contralto, she studied at the Elder Conservatorium of Music and won a scholarship in 1908 to the Royal College of Music, London. Returning to Adelaide at the start of WWI she performed at many fund raising concerts for the Red Cross. She married her accompanist, Roy Mellish in 1917, and returned to London in 1922 where she appeared at Covent Garden. She also sung in Berlin, Vienna and Paris. Retiring in 1939 she lived in England until 1951 when she returned home. She died at Felixstow in 1972.

This song was originally released in the UK by Vocalion on 78rpm.

The photograph of Clara Serena was published in the Mail on Saturday, 24th April 1915, page 5.

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