Olga Racster

Also known as the Baroness de Wagstaffe and Treble Violl. Writer and critic. She had studied at the Brussels Conservatoire, and had been a contributor to Grove’s Dictionary of Music. Came to South Africa from London in 1910 for her health, and became the dramatic and music critic for The Cape Times under the nom de plume Treble Violl. Later moved to Johannesburg to review films for The Rand Daily Mail. In collaboration with Jessica Grove Jessica Grave she wrote two one-act plays. War was published by the Cape Times Limited in 1914, while From German West was written in 1916. She is best known for her history of drama in the Cape entitled Curtain Up! (Cape Town: Juta and Company, 1951) and the article on the Performing Arts in South Africa in the Department of Information’s South African Yearbook [**?].(Swan Press, 19**-19**)

As the Baroness de Wagstaffe she and Jessica Grave also helped restore the grave of Dr James Barry in Kensall Green, London.

(Russia ‑ 1955) (Baroness de Wagstaffe; pseudonym 'Treble Viol'). Novelist, playwright and journalist specializing in literary and musical criticism. Racster was a talented Russian-born musician and author whose father had an estate on the Volga during the days of the Romanoff autocracy. Racster studied the violin in Brussels and Paris. She toured America and England, before turning to journalism in London where she specialized in music criticism. She wrote reviews on drama and music in the Cape Times during the early years of the Twentieth Century. She is the co-author of a novel entitled The Phases of Felicity (1916, with Jessica Grove), as well as the author of a novel entitled The Heavenly Maid (1928). Racster also wrote Sylphide:Story of a Great Ballerina (1947), as well as a study entitled Dr James Barry: Her Secret Story (1932). Racster is the author of a play entitled Dr James Barry, as well as a cockney comedy entitled Poor 'em, both of which became overseas stage productions. She also published a historical study of Cape drama entitled Curtain Up! The Story of Cape Theatre (1951).

Sources

Gosher, 1988;

Sowden, 1962;

Merrington, 2009

http://www.esaach.org.za/index.php?title=Racster,_Elizabeth_Olga

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