Patrick Bade
Sarah Bernhardt: Diva of Divas
Summary
The illegitimate daughter of a Dutch Jewish courtesan, Sarah Bernhardt went on to be not only the most celebrated actress of her age but the most famous and widely traveled woman who had ever lived up to that point. Bernhardt used the new technologies of the 19th and early 20th centuries as much for self-promotion and self-reinvention as for her acting craft.
Patrick Bade
Patrick Bade is a historian, writer, and broadcaster. He studied at UCL and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was a senior lecturer at Christie’s Education for many years and has worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, and V&A. He has published on 19th- and early 20th-century paintings and historical vocal recordings. His latest book is Music Wars: 1937–1945.
Yes, she was. I mean, as I said, we dunno who the father was for sure, but her mother was Jewish, and that I think, I believe that’s enough.
I think it’s a German name. I mean she always used to emphasise that her family were Dutch, but I think that if you go back two generations, they’re German and that was something that she really, I mean she didn’t mind being Dutch and she was very happy to be Jewish, but she surely did not want to be German.