Polish-born, Jewish medical doctor in Vienna; sister of Angi Elias.

Manolo Elias was the son of Heinrich Menachem Elias (1841‒1901) and Rachel Elias (née Russo) (1853‒1934). He had six elder sisters and one younger brother. He and his sister Angi Elias were evidently close; after the death of their mother, she states that she will remain in Vienna in part because she does not want to leave Manolo "alone in his present isolation" (OJ 10/18, [9]). He presumably lived with his parents as a child in Vienna's first district at Augustengasse 4 and in the 1920s at Gölsdorfgasse 4. He had qualified as a medical doctor by at the latest 1917. By 1934 he was working privately and living at Vienna I, Wallnerstraße 2, where he remained until at least 1939, after which he disappears from the Vienna street directory. He lived until October 15, 1943, and was buried in Vienna, so clearly escaped the Nazis (Vienna was declared judenfrei on October 9, 1942).

Manolo Elias and Heinrich Schenker

Schenker's diary shows that Manolo featured in conversations between his sister and Schenker. The two men must have met on occasions, the only one that we know from Schenker's diary being at a Toscanini concert on May 19, 1930.

Correspondence

The sole surviving item of correspondence between the two men is that from Manolo to Schenker: a note of thanks (OJ 10/19, [1]) for a letter of condolence that Schenker sent to him on August 18, 1934 on the death of his mother. Schenker's diary shows, however, that Manolo had previously written a letter of condolence to Schenker on the death of the latter's mother, to which Schenker replied on December 15, 1917. Manolo also sent Christmas or New Year's greetings and birthday best wishes to Schenker.

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