Index
Lotte Lehmann League Newsletter Spring 1989, Volume 1 Number 1
A good year for record collectors
As we enter the second Lehmann century…
Dr. Exner’s lecture available from UCSB
Glass Biography
Highlights of the Lehmann Centennial
Jefferson biography published in England
Lehmann Archives receives grant
Looking for Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann League Newsletter Summer 1989, Volume 1 Number 2
A List of Lists
First Lehmann archivist on the job
From the phone booths of Vienna to the marble stairs of Munich
Lehmann accompanist Ernö Balogh dies
Lehmann Archives acquire Strauss letters
Lehmann CDs Available
Letters, we got letters…
Live-performance tapes to be copied for Lehmann Archives
Meeting Horst Wahl
Questionnaire: sent to Lehmann students
Trivia Contest
Lotte Lehmann League Newsletter Fall 1989, Volume 1 Number 3
Essential Lehmann in Print
Lehmann CDs
Lehmann Centennial in Vienna
Lehmann on the Radio
Lehmann RCA CD Story
More Lists
Poster on its way
Report from the Lehmann Archives
Reviews
Sealed With A Song
Those cards and letters
Vol. 1, number 1
As we enter the second Lehmann century…
Let’s build on the momentum generated worldwide in 1988 to reach more young singers and listeners, your friends and your students, with the art, the teaching, and the life of Lotte Lehmann.
Some say you had to see her on stage to know the real artist, that recordings alone are a shadow of her vital presence. That may be true for those lucky enough to have experienced her magic. But many of us–including we who create this Lehmann journal–were born too late for that privilege.
It is through recordings, books and the vivid memories of those who saw her on stage that we know her. For us, that is an enormous quantity of inspired musical art to absorb over a lifetime. She made nearly 500 commercial recordings and there are hundreds of tapes of her master classes and radio interviews.
If anyone thinks the magic died when she did in 1976– here’s an example of the power she still possesses today, electronically expressed. Gary Hickling, Lehmann’s discographer, double-bass player/teacher and art song disk jockey in Hawaii, tells of a truck driver friend of his who had heard him talking off and on the past year or two about “this Lehmann person”. He finally asked Hickling if he could hear what her voice sounded like. Hickling gave him a tape of his Hawaii Public Radio Lehmann Centennial Program aired in February 1988. The man called back later to say that he had listened to the tape in tears, her voice “just got to me.”
Lehmann’s art communicates. It did during her lifetime; it still does. We want more people in this world to hear her voice, to be touched by her art and to learn from her example.
Gary Hickling and I are starting this Lehmann League Newsletter because we feel that in her recorded and written art, Lehmann is still alive and has much to say to us all. Right now, it’s just the two of us, with one computer in Santa Barbara, the other in Kailua, and a mailing list of people who have indicated either a mad passion or at least a passing interest in Lotte Lehmann.
We’re not attempting to be a nonprofit corporation, at least not yet, because of the fuss-and-bother bookwork. And we’re not asking for subscriptions (yet!) because the list is relatively small and we plan to produce this little journal inexpensively and just pay for it ourselves as an offering on the altar of art.
We are independent of the Lehmann Archives at the University of California in Santa Barbara, but we work closely with them, and you will read some news on Archive developments in this issue. We hope you will share with our readers your views, your memories, your research, your Lehmann letters. Keep in touch through the Lehmann League with other Lehmanniacs. Send us addresses of interested people. Write to us. We’d like to hear from you.
–Judy Sutcliffe
Dr. Exner’s lecture available from UCSB
Many who heard Dr. Richard Exner’s lecture at the Lehmann Centennial Symposium requested that it be published, and the University Library did just that in their annual publication, Soundings. The address is titled “Some Thoughts on the Magic of Courage and Metamorphosis.” For a copy of the 1988 Soundings, contact the Librarian’s Office, UCSB, CA 93106
Lehmann Archives receives grant
A few years ago I asked permission to visit the Lotte Lehmann Archives at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The room was well-organized; well-framed photos hung on the walls; a display case with letters from and to famous composers and authors filled one end of the room, and boxes of snapshots from a cabinet were put at my disposal. But I was dismayed to learn that there was no sound.
This soprano, one of the most important interpreters and communicators of this century, could not be heard in her own archive!
I was told that there were sound documents; some were even there at the archive. Other records and tapes were at the Music Library or still at Orplid where Lehmann had lived the last 36 years of her life with Dr. Frances Holden. There was no way to hear any of this material in the Lehmann Archive within the Main Library.
I am happy to report that all of this will soon be changing.
Martin Silver and Susan Bower of the UCSB Music Library, under the direction of Joseph Boissé, University Librarian, recently put together a grant proposal which has been funded. The effect of the proposal will be to preserve, organize and make publicly available the audio portion of the Lehmann Archives. This will include assessing the condition of 78 rpms that have not been transferred to LP and recording them, if appropriate. Dr. Holden will allow an archivist to tape some of her rare 78s. The master class and interview material, as well as the commercial recordings, will be catalogued so that interested musicians, musicologists, and Lehmann fans will have access to her sound. A master sound discography will be assembled using the newest digital technology, from which cassettes can be conveniently made for use with headphones and a tape player within the Lehmann Archive room in Special Collections on the third floor of the main library.
–Gary Hickling
Glass Biography
“Succeeds admirably in capturing the essential Lehmann”
Reviewed favorably in many newspapers and magazines this past year, Beaumont Glass’ biography of Lotte Lehmann has taken its place beside her own 1938 story, Midway in My Song, on many a music lover’s bookshelf. Of interest to both the Lehmann fan and the Lehmann researcher, the book traces her career from her first singing lessons as a young girl in Berlin to her Farewell Recital in New York in 1951, with extensive coverage of her richly acclaimed opera and lieder career in Hamburg, Vienna, London, Australia, and America, plus the master class years that followed in Santa Barbara, Pasadena, Evanston, and beyond. Her personal life is detailed more clearly than in her memoirs: her romance with and marriage to Otto Krause and his death in America, her intense friendship with Toscanini, her long and productive friendship with Frances Holden, her singing dogs, her talking mynahs, her whimsy, and her humor.
The book is illustrated with 80 photographs and includes a full discography by Gary Hickling that lists all the known non-commercial recordings (many master classes) as well as the 78rpms and LPs. The book was reviewed in the November 1988 Opera News and in Opera Quarterly in the Winter 1988/89 issue, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times in the spring of 1988.
Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera & Song, by Beaumont Glass. Capra Press, P.O. Box 2068, Santa Barbara, CA 93120
A good year for record collectors
The Lehmann Centennial year turned out to be a gratifying one for Lehmann record collectors. Three compact discs were released and one more was compiled and will be released in July. The premier publication on three LPs of the lieder that Lehmann sang for CBS radio in l941 was perhaps the single most exciting event of the Centennial. The Lotte Lehmann Centennial Album was issued by the Lehmann Archives of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Not only do these recordings include items never recorded by Lehmann, but they were manufactured on vinyl, played at 33 rpm, and are almost without surface noise–l0 years before commercial LPs!
Lehmann introduces each song while Ulanowsky tinkles away in the background. She is relatively free from the constraints of the recording studio and I doubt that a second take was made of any song. That’s not to say that they’re flawless. Rhythm problems occur, especially in the Brahms set. But no matter what technical errors occur, there is always a sense of intense involvement and at the same time, spontaneity. Harold Huber, a record collector who specializes in vocal music, wrote, “I am amazed at the quality of the sound, and of the quality and moving power of her singing….”
William Moran, the well-known discographer and recorded vocal music expert, re-mastered and edited this set of radio programs. He stated that this treasure included “…all new material, all with comments by Lehmann, all splendid recordings. She was really in excellent voice…I have experimented quite a bit and have gotten very superior results by using the old Western Electric WE-9A pickup which was originally designed just for these transcriptions.”
Dr. Daniel Jacobson, Centennial coordinator, discovered the original recordings in the Archives, and was also responsible for putting together a beautiful box for the set of three LPs, plus an informative booklet with the original poetry and translations.
The last evening of the radio series is Christmas Eve and Mme. Lehmann announces that the series will be discontinued. Remember that the US had entered the war three weeks earlier. This, then, is an important set for historical as well as musical reasons. These albums may still be ordered from the Library at UCSB.
The Lehmann-Melchior-Walter recording of Die Walküre is on almost every list of the “Ten Best Recordings of the Century.” Though some of the recent LP re-releases have improved the sound quality, it is was the advent of CD laser technology that Lehmann’s sound is allowed to bloom. Her impassioned portrait of Sieglinde can be heard on DANACORD’s CD DACOCD 317-318, as well as on the Angel (EMI) CDH 7610202.
EMI’s Keith Hardwick also put together the Angel CD, “Lotte Lehmann, Opera Arias,” CDH 7610422. Though it contains no new releases, the sound is excellent and provides the beginner with samples of vintage Lehmann of the 1920’s and 30’s in the best transfers now available. The classic recording of “Komm, Hoffnung,” from Beethoven’s Fidelio and the Marschallin’s Monologue from Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier stand as testimony to the complete involvement in a role which was Lehmann’s trademark.
There are lighter arias from operettas, arias from lesser-known operas such as Die tode Stadt and Das Wunder der Heliane, both by Korngold, as well as the obligatory Wagner excerpts. Both German and American reviewers have been enthusiastic about this CD and have lauded both Lehmann and the relatively good sound.
Preiser Records of Vienna has released the sixth Lehmann album in their “Lebendige Vergangenheit” series, LV 1364. Known for both their high sonic standards and discographic data, Preiser doesn’t include anything that hasn’t been released many times on LP. The Fidelio aria mentioned above, as well as Wagner, Strauss and Korngold material is available once again for those of us who have worn out our now out-of-print LPs of the 1960’s.
In the next newsletter I hope to report in detail the contents and quality of the forthcoming RCA Lehmann CD of lieder. It will include some songs never before released, others which never have appeared on LP, a test pressing, and other beautiful lieder which have appeared only on long-out-of-print LPs. William Moran was responsible for the mastering of this CD and had the cooperation of Frances Holden and access to original metal masters provided by RCA’s John Pfeiffer.
–Gary Hickling
Jefferson biography published in England
Late in the year Alan Jefferson’s book, Lotte Lehmann: 1888-1976, A Centenary Biography, was published in London by Julia MacRae Books. We have seen only one review of the book, in Opera, by Desmond Shawe-Taylor, and he was not overly appreciative of either biography, sad to say.
Jefferson covers the musical career of Lehmann very thoroughly, though he has less to say of her personal life, especially after she moves to the United States. The extensive Floris Juynboll discography and an 11-page tabular listing of all of Lehmann’s opera performances are very useful. An interesting collection of photographs is included, though not as many as in the Glass book.
We do not know of any US source for this book.
Looking for Lehmann
Judy Sutcliffe and Gary Hickling will be traveling in Germany and Austria May 15-31, looking for material for the Lehmann Archives.
“It is an exciting prospect to try to find in Europe Lehmann-related items to enhance the already prestigious collection at UCSB,” says Gary Hickling, Lehmann discographer. “There may be radio, master class, and interview material which the Archives does not have. We will also be seeking copies of the many Lehmann Centennial tributes aired on German and Austrian radio and TV last year.
“We also want to have a look at recording archives and radio vaults in the slim chance that there might be original metal masters that were never released, as well as acetates, wire or tape recordings and rare 78 rpms.
“We’ll also be looking for non-aural Lehmann items.” says Hickling. “Photos and negatives, letters, programs, reviews, and other articles will all be useful in preserving the Lehmann legacy.” If you have friends or colleagues in Germany/Austria who you believe could be helpful, please write as soon as possible to Gary Hickling, 161B N. Kalaheo Ave., Kailua, HI 96734.
Highlights of the Lehmann Centennial
• Vienna Opera’s Lehmann tribute on her l00th birthday, February 27, 1988.
• Music Academy of the West tribute. School year dedicated to Lehmann.
• Many radio and TV commemorative programs in Europe and America in February.
• New York Wagner Society panel discussion with recordings.
• Risë Stevens interviewed about Lehmann during Metropolitan Opera intermission broadcast.
• Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera & Song, by Beaumont Glass, published in March 1988 by Capra Press, Santa Barbara. Includes full discography.
• Lotte Lehmann Archives, University of California, Santa Barbara, sponsored a four day symposium May 28–31 with concert, lectures.
• Three-record set of previously unreleased songs produced by William Moran and issued by UCSB Lehmann Archives.
• EMI released two Lehmann compact disks, Opera Arias and Die Walküre, Act I, under Great Recordings of the Century.
• Alan Jefferson’s Lotte Lehmann: A Centenary Biography was published by Julia MacRae Books, London, with the Floris Juynboll discography.
• Richard Exner’s Symposium lecture on Hofmannsthal, Strauss, Lehmann published by UCSB Library.
• Wm. Moran completed technical work for an RCA-produced CD of songs by Lehmann.
• Preiser of Vienna issued Volume VI of their Lehmann “Lebendige Vergangenheit” LP series, this one of opera arias.
• Articles on Lehmann and reviews of the Glass and Jefferson biographies appeared throughout the year in prominent magazines and newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Opera News, and Opera Quarterly.
• Music Academy of the West presented Judith Beckmann in the premiere of Sieben Lehmannlieder by Thomas Pasatieri, a song cycle based on poems by Lotte Lehmann.
Lotte Lehmann League Newsletter Summer 1989 Volume 1, number 2
From the phone booths of Vienna to the marble stairs of Munich
by Judy Sutcliffe
A critical period of our May 15-31 Lehmann trip to Europe was spent in stuffy phone booths in Munich, Frankfurt, and Vienna. These are special booths one finds at post offices, from which one can make numerous calls, paying for them all at the end. Gary Hickling tied those phone lines in knots, making connections with people he had formerly only written to, chasing down one tip after another, finding the sought-for person “on vacation”, checking home phone numbers or talking with other people in the same department, on and on, one referral leading to another, all of this almost impossible to have done from the US.
We went to see as many people as we could, so when we were not in phone booths we were running to catch street cars or trains or we were running up stairs. The stairs were always marble and the person we were scheduled to see always seemed to have an office three stories up. Gary galloped the stairs two steps at a time, and I jogged after him, feeling like a short-legged dachshund only able to take one step at a time.
Our first day in Vienna we went up and down the stairs to the third-floor Austrian Radio Archive at least seven times, always at a dead run. (Yes, there are elevators, but why wait when you can run?) In between, through streetcar windows we caught glimpses of cascading lilacs and chestnut “candles” in Munich, enjoyed the Vienna inner city full of people spooning Italian ices while lounging about in the pedestrian malls, and we smiled at the green expanse of hills and forests we saw from train windows as we journeyed from city to city.
Everyone we met was extremely helpful, very interested in the UCSB Lehmann Archives, and more than willing to give us their cooperation and suggestions.
Gary and I are both 48 and many of the older people we talked with expressed pleasure that a younger generation who had never heard Lehmann on stage could be crazy about their beloved Lehmann. We, too, were pleased to find along the way a number of Lehmann enthusiasts who are younger than we are. Our intentions, of course, are to assist in bringing the voice of Lehmann to the ears and hearts of generations yet unborn. Tapes, records, writers, TV, radio, and record producers and announcers, vocal music teachers and the supporting archives are the means to do this. Interconnections need to be woven, so that enthusiasm can be shared with more people.
What did we come back with in our carry-on luggage? Little note-books full of scrawled names, addresses, phone numbers, two large open reels of German language interviews of Lehmann, a cassette containing short interviews from the Austrian Radio Archive, several rare 78rpm records, a charming autographed note, an interview on tape with Horst Wahl (Lehmann’s recording technician from 1925–35), a phone interview with Martha Mödl about Lehmann, and copies of two of the four new Lehmann CDs we found in record scores.
And not in our baggage but forthcoming: 150 photos of Lehmann from Salzburg and Vienna archives; more taped interviews and off-the-air performances; archival materials from the Theater Collection of the University of Hamburg and from the Hamburg Opera Archives; tapes from the German Radio Archives; a second filmed interview by Werner Baecker; The Leo Slezak Centennial Celebration tape with Lehmann; a missing BBC interview; better copies of rare live performances; invitations to join ISIA and Friends of the Vienna State Opera; Lehmann data from Korngold expert Berndt Rachold and from the Richard Strauss Institute in Munich; private films of Lehmann; two filmed interviews, TV memorials and celebrations from Austrian Television and suggestions about two out-of-print books about the Vienna of Lehmann’s time by Otto Strasset and Hugo Burghauser. We ordered a recent book on the history of the Salzburg Festival and bought another detailing the history of the Hamburg Opera. Both books include generous sections on Lehmann. Great numbers of photos, critical comment, theater announcements, programs, and letters await further research in Vienna and Hamburg.
Among the people whom we met and talked with (and whom we deeply thank) include: VIENNA: Marcel Prawy of the Vienna Opera, who has produced many TV and radio programs and articles relating to Lehmann; Robert Werba, Austrian Radio producer, author and Lehmann record collector; Gottfried Cervenka, record collector, producer and distributor who ordered Lehmann Centennial Albums for his Da Caruso record shop across from the Opera; Erwin Heidrich, retired bookstore owner, a Lehmann enthusiast who has donated several rare items to the Lehmann Archives; Hertha Schuch, collector and friend of Lehmann since the ’30’s who provided many important names for our research; Dr. Robert Kittler, head of Photo Archive of the Theater Collection of the National Library; Dr. Rainer Hubert, director of the Austrian Phonotek; Herr Neuwirt, most helpful at Austrian Radio. FREIBURG: Horst Wahl, recording technician at Odeon in the early days. MUNICH: Frank Manhold, classical radio announcer/producer at Bavarian Radio; Dr. Hejak, Archivist of the Bavarian State Opera; Jürgen Grundheber, sound archivist, record producer/distributor; Andreas Dürrwanger, young lawyer/researcher; Walter Schwarz, Munich Philharmonic percussionist/researcher; Kevork Matouchian, sound archivist/dealer. FRANKFURT: Mechthilde Brüning and Anke Bingman at German Radio Archives. BY TELEPHONE: Berndt Wessling, author of Mehr als eine Sängerin; who has many letters and interviews of Lehmann which he is sending; Hans Landgraf of EMI Records who is sending a tape of the out-of-print LP of Lehmann which he produced; Otto Preiser of Preiser Records, who provided the name of an American distributor of his Lebendige Vergangenheit series; Jürgen Schmidt of Preiser Records, who gave us much valuable information; Fr. Cordes, Archivist of the Hamburg Opera, who is sending printed matter on Lehmann; Peter Aistleitner, record collector, Toscanini expert and researcher, who told us of relevant Lehmann people; Gunther Walter, editor of the magazine Stimmen die um die Welt gingen, who is sending Lehmann material such as copies of letters and contracts, and Christopher Norton-Welsh, record collector and vocal expert living in Vienna, who has promised us help in our on-going Vienna projects.
Did we miss anything? Yes, we missed a rendezvous with music critic Alfred Frankenstein, who arrived in Vienna two days after we left, which we much regret. He had written two delightful letters to us after receiving the first LLL newsletter, and we had hoped to meet. But you will hear more about him later. We were not able to interview as many artists as we wished, but some have expressed interest to do this on their own and send us the tapes. We plan to contact: Otto Edelmann, Eric Werba, Hans Weigel, Sena Jurinac, Hermann Prey, Jörg Demus, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Söderström, Regine Crespin, Christa Ludwig, Birgit Nilsson, Judy Beckman, Dalton Baldwin, Erna Berger, Joseph Witt. We tried without success to contact André Tubeuf in Strasbourg, France. He wrote to us just prior to our trip and was most anxious to provide information or material from his vast collection of Lehmann recordings and letters.
As we finished our work in Vienna towards the end of our trip, Michael Schuch took us to lunch at Kahlenburg, overlooking the city, and then dropped me off at the railroad depot cafe with all our baggage and a large plate of cakes to wait for the train to Munich which would leave in two hours. Michael meanwhile went home and Gary took off to Da Caruso near the Opera to pick up an amazing list of Lehmann live recordings. From there he ran to Austrian Radio for a second meeting with Robert Werba, trying to get everything discussed in 10 minutes, then he grabbed a taxi back to the station. Michael Schuch meanwhile had come back to the train station to check on me and the diminished plate of cakes. It was 15 minutes to departure time. I told Michael not to worry, Gary would arrive at the last minute. So he waved goodby.
When Gary loped in a few minutes later he said he’d been running up the stairs to the café when he heard clapping. He looked up and there stood Michael Schuch applauding the long distance runner.
An article entitled “My devotion to Lotte Lehmann” has been omitted because its contents can be found on this site at: My Lotte Lehmann Connection
Lehmann Archives acquire Strauss letters
A major collection of Lehmann-related correspondence has been acquired by the Lotte Lehmann Archives at the University of California, Santa Barbara, according to Dr. Joseph Boissé, librarian.
On May 19, a large collection of Lehmanniana appeared in the Sotheby auction. Through the generosity of the Friends of the UCSB Library and an anonymous donor, the UCSB Library was able to bid successfully for most of the material. There are three distinct collections, all of which will be useful to future scholars and researchers. The first is a series of letters from Richard Strauss to Lotte Lehmann. In one of these letters, the composer attributes the success of his work to her; in another he emphatically declares her the greatest “Marschallin” of his day. In several of the letters, the running conflict between Lotte Lehmann and Maria Jeritza is discussed. A second group of letters covers a thirty-year period in Mme. Lehmann’s life. These letters are all addressed to Albert Goldberg, critic emetitus of the Los Angeles Times. The third collection contains letters to Lehmann between 1927 and 1930. Included here are correspondence from Bruno Walter, Puccini, Franz Schalk, Erich Korngold and many others.
Live-performance tapes to be copied for Lehmann Archives
Some of the most important material gathered on our recent Lehmann Project in Germany and Austria will be sent to us by the sound archivist, Jürgen Grundheber. Among the items he will try to duplicate are: a complete Die Walküre from 16 Jan. 1937, and excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier of 1938. He has access to better (unfiltered) versions of Die Meistersinger and to recorded excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier of 1936, some of which have appeared in the Belvedere Wiener Staatsoper series (See the article on Lehmann records in print.)
Herr Grundheber was also helpful in providing clues to sources of Lehmann recordings both in Europe and America.
Another recorded sound archivist who will be providing the Lehmann Archive with precious live documentation is Gottfried Cervenka. Here is the list of tapes he will try to duplicate: Fidelio (Salzburg): Toscanini, Gallos, Kipnis; Otello: Sabata, Pistor, Jerger, 1935; Der Rosenkavalier: Knappertsbusch, Novotna, Schumann, 1936; Die Meistersinger (Salzburg): Toscanini, 1936; Die Walküre: Völker, 1933, and Tannhäuser: Mayr, Kalenberg, 1933.
-GH
First Lehmann archivist on the job
The University of California at Santa Barbara has appointed a part-time archivist to catalogue the Lehmann sound holdings and to make them publicly accessible. James Stenger graduated from UCSB with majors in music, French, and theater arts. He is a long-time record collector with well-trained ears. His first assignment is to assemble (mostly from sources in Santa Barbara) the full collection of commercial recordings, in other words the complete sound discography of 78rpms. When these 421 recordings are in place, Jim will catalogue them into a data base. At that point he will tackle the non-commercial recordings, which include off-the-air tapes, live recitals, complete operas, as well as interviews and master classes.
Finally, he will record all items not represented on LPs or CDs onto DAT (digital audio tape). The complete discography will then be available to scholars, historians and the interested public within the Lehmann Archives itself for the first time.
–GH
Lehmann CDs Available
Thanks to today’s CD technology, Lehmann’s voice rises again from the recent past clearer and brighter than on the original 78rpm recordings. Eight CDs are currently available (counting Danacord as two!). Amazingly, all have appeared in the past year, several in just the last few months, and the RCA disk just days ago! Two more will be out soon.
On to LPs. We highly recommend the “Lebendige Vergangenheit” (Living Past) series by Preiser Records of Vienna. There are six Lehmann LPs available: Lotte Lehmann I, Lotte Lehmann II etc. The numbers in order are: LV22, LV94, LV180; LV294, LV1336, LV1364. You may be able to order them through the dealers listed. They are also available directly from a Preiser distributor in the US.: Koch International, 2700 Shames Dr. Westbury, NY 11590; 516 333-5800
Also look for two VOCE LPs (66 & 99) “Lotte Lehmann: Previously Unissued Selections from New Friends of Music Concerts.” And BWS-729 “In Memoriam: Lotte Lehmann, 1888-1976” from Discocorp, now called Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc., P.O. Box 771, Berkeley, CA 94701. They have a catalog. Another of their LP productions is No. 426, Wagner: Die Walküre, Act II, the Lehmann – Flagstad performance now available also on CD.
There are two LPs in the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) LP series which contain one Lehmann cut each. The 1935 album (643333 AG) has Lehmann in a Meistersinger selection from that year. On the 1936 album (7623589) she is in a Rosenkavalier performance. All are previously unissued live performances. Produced by Teletheater.
Jerry Minkoff turned up a double album tribute (R-1001a and R1002a) to Dr. Frieder Weissmann, (Ritornello Records, 54 East Lake Dr., Amityville, NY 11701), which has a sweetly scented Lehmann song: “Der Duft der eine schöne Frau begleitet.” Also included is the Gypsy Baron finale with Lehmann and Tauber. Gary Hickling adds a few more LPs and cassettes worth looking for: Great Voices of the Century: Seraphim (cassette) 4 XG-60113; Record of Singing (Vol 3): Seraphim (Lehmann on one or two cuts) 6143 1M; Song Recital: Pelican 20009 (Farewell Recital at Town Hall); Die Walküre: highlights (probably first act only) Tur THS-65163.
And while we’re mentioning currently available LPs don’t forget the Lotte Lehmann Centennial Album (LRT 1-3), a 3-record set available from Lotte Lehmann Archives, c/o University Librarian, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA93106. The three records contain 44 newly-discovered songs with commentary by Lehmann. She is accompanied by Paul Ulanowsky. These were made from 1941 Columbia radio transcriptions unearthed by Dr. Dan Jacobson in the Lehmann Archives during his work on the 1988 Centennial Symposium. -JS
Meeting Horst Wahl
I’ve known the name Horst Wahl since it was mentioned in the Lehmann Discography by Floris Juynboll which appeared in the magazine Stimmen die um die Welt gingen in 1983. A recording technician at Odeon in the 1920’s, I figured that he was a part of history until I saw an impressive dedication which appeared in Juynboll’s discography in the Lehmann biography by Jefferson in 1988.
When Judy and I planned our European Lehmann project, I called Walter Schwartz of the Munich Philharmonic, asking him to track down Herr Wahl and see if he’d be interested in giving us an interview. When Walter called me back (on a US tour with the Philharmonic), he had the good news to report that Herr Wahl was alive, well and enthusiastic about speaking to us on Lehmann.
The first call I made when we landed in Germany was to Horst Wahl. We made an appointment and after our visit to the German Radio Archives in Frankfurt, we went to Freiburg for the interview. We were hardly prepared for what awaited us.
Though going on 90, Horst Wahl is full of energy and mentally as alert as the bright young man he was, when from 1925 to 1935 he served as a recording engineer for Lehmann at Odeon. The following is based on our taped interview.
Herr Wahl began making recordings at home in 1910 when he was ten years old. He’d already been living in a world of music: his father was fascinated by vocal music and his uncle was Hans Gregor, the director of the Vienna Court Opera. You may remember that it was this director who had visited the Hamburg Opera and discovered and hired Lehmann. On each of his visits to Berlin, Herr Gregor praised his “discovery,” and the elder Wahl made it a point to hear Lehmann on his trips to Vienna. Horst joined in the excitement and bought any Lehmann recordings he could find.
When young Horst graduated, his only wish was to work for the recording industry. Odeon hired him and he worked as a technician in the morning and as a record salesman in the afternoon in the Odeon store. As Horst Wahl put it, “I was crazy about recordings.”
One day, a lady wearing a low-brimmed helmet hat in flapper mode entered one of the listening booths and asked Horst to play recordings of soprano voices. When asked which singers she was interested in, she replied, “Show me what you think is good and worth buying.” He stated (probably quite categorically), “If you want to hear my taste–there is nothing more beautiful than Lotte Lehmann” She replied, “I thank you, young man,” and looking up from under her hat, “that’s who I am.” According to Horst Wahl at 89, that was the greatest and most embarrassing moment of his life. After his blushing and stammering were over, they talked for hours and even listened to a few records.
Lehmann, who was dissatisfied with her recordings asked, since Wahl knew her voice so well, that he should be present for her next sessions as one of the recording technicians. The electric microphone had already been used, but Odeon was still in transition. When, with Wahl in attendance, Lehmann recorded the Eulenburg “Rosenlieder,” they tried it both with microphone and horn. Because of careful placement, Wahl was able to obtain remarkable results with the horn, and it was decided that these were superior to the electric recordings. To this day, Horst Wahl remains proud of the recording quality of these last acoustic recordings sung by Lehmann.
During the interview we spoke at length of technical matters, of his connection with the Edison studios in New Jersey and of his books about early recordings. We also asked how the choice of recorded repertoire was made. Evidently, this included whatever the recording company administration thought would sell: Lehmann’s famous opera roles, recital encores and sometimes banal trifles. Financial concerns were often major considerations. The best conductors of the time (Furtwängler, Klemperer, Strauss, etc.) were generally passed over as accompanying conductors because they were too expensive. Money was often more important than artistic decisions and resulted in the little snippets of music that were excerpted from Der Rosenkavalier, which still bothers Herr Wahl. He notes that even these weren’t recorded in the order in which they occur in the opera. But he understands that such a long opera had to be condensed: this was during the Depression and records were expensive. He had heard the new CD of Der Rosenkavalier and was very impressed with the improvement of both Lehmann’s voice and the orchestra. Wahl reminded us that the artists were required to stop every three or four minutes when a new wax master was set up. He credits Lehmann for being able to sustain the emotion and mentioned other great singers of the past (including Melba, Nordica and Jeritza) who weren’t successful in the studio.
When Herr Wahl worked for Odeon, he dealt with catalogs as well as technical matters. He also studied voice and when he became friends with Lehmann, he privately recorded duets with her. Sadly, all his Lehmann letters and these private recordings were destroyed on the last day of the Second World War.
He also had recorded conversations and the impertinent letters to his uncle, Director Gregor, which Lehmann wrote refusing new roles. Wahl mentioned that she often thought a new role wouldn’t be “right” for her, but it wasn’t for lack of confidence or fear of learning new music. Both vocal and dramatic considerations caused her to refuse. Even Wahl advised Lehmann not to sing Turandot and repeatedly told her to capitalize on her mezzo range.
Horst Wahl was very eager to speak of the unique qualities of Lehmann’s singing that now, after recording and listening to thousands of voices, remains for him the greatest of them all. He spoke of the enormous heart and soul that Lehmann was able to bring even to recordings. Her shortcomings became assets. The quickly-caught breath had tone and became part of the song, which intensified its content.
He recalled the making of the 1928 Lehmann recording of Frauenliebe und -leben and the almost unbelievable pleasure that the young, vibrant voice provided him, standing next to her as she sang. Herr Wahl likened her vital, youthful voice to a beautiful flower, from which, over the years, petals fall, one by one. By her final appearances in the 5O’s, Wahl noted a huskiness in the voice. But she still “knew the art of Lieder singing…and always could fill the music with her great heart and soul.”
-GH
Lehmann accompanist Ernö Balogh dies
Noted pianist-composer Ernö Balogh died June 2 [1989] at a retirement home in Michellville, MD, according to a New York Times article June 6. He was 92.
He made his first public appearance as a pianist in Budapest, the city of his birth, at the age of four, and was only eight when one of his compositions was published. In his teens he studied piano with Bartok and composition with Kodaly. The Times article states that “During his early years in New York, Mr. Balogh worked as an accompanist for the violinist Fritz Kreisler and the soprano Lotte Lehmann.” He is survived by his wife, Dr. Malvina Schweitzer.
-JS
Letters, we got letters…
Gary and I were delighted to hear personally from so many of you who received our first newsletter, and we do encourage communication! Furthermore, if you read of anyone in the newsletter whom you would like to contact, write to them in care of Gary or me and we will forward your letter (rather than give out addresses). If there’s anything Lehmann enthusiasts like to do, it’s share their love of Lehmann with a kindred spirit!
A few quotes from some of the many letters received:
• Alfred Frankenstein, Israel: “There exists now a very beautiful music magazine (monthly) Musica in Hebrew. The editors ask me from time to time to contribute from my memories of great artists an article, and thus…in the November I988 issue appeared my article with personal recollections of Lotte Lehmann…” Mr. Frankenstein promises us a translation of at least a portion of his article for a future newsletter.
• Prof. Richard Exner, UCSB: “… a very dear friend…has just written her musical memoirs….She makes several references to Lehmann…The book is beautifully done.” The book is To Music by Christine Moleta, $25 US. to Aeolia Press, P.O. Box 303, Claremont, Western Australia 6010. She quotes Lehmann as saying in a master class, “If you don’t sing with every fibre of your body, you may as well go and sell stamps”.
• André Tubeuf, France: “Thank you so much for the sending of this first issue of the Lotte Lehmann League, and first of all, so many thanks just because you dared to undertackle it! Hopefully, response will be huge. I have on my side done the best I could so that the Lehmann Centenary could be celebrated in France. The Lehmann CDs in the Références series, a tribute in Diapason (the leading French music and records magazine), [and] in the bulletin of the recently founded Richard Strauss Society. I shall look at having copies of everything sent to you….l have been in correspondence with L.L. about fifteen years and have perhaps 50 letters … a rather considerable collection of her pictures (photos). Besides, I might be the private collector with the most complete set of her 78 records (only two or three still missing)….”
Any challengers? To check the extent of your collection, check the Web Site discography.
• Blair McElroy, Maine: “Thanks so much for your first newsletter. I hope this check will help a bit.”
I went right out and bought some more Toscanini stamps! Much appreciated. (We’re not a non-profit corporation, just two individuals who have fun giving a few more or less disposable dollars to our favorite soprano. But we’re economical about it. That’s why you’re not seeing photos in these pages. Costly.)
• Beaumont Glass, Iowa, author of Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera Song: “Thanks for the first issue of the Lehmann League Newsletter, which I found very informative and well done….I know that there are many record collectors and other music lovers who would enjoy the book if they knew about it… especially now that several Lehmann CDs have been issued.”
• Henry Hall, Sydney, Australia: “Your LLL has just arrived (a beautiful job) with the Toscanini stamp…I have a mad passion for the wonderful LL ever since I first heard her Sieglinde and Leonore…I love Lotte’s wonderful ardent quality…” Mr. Hall provided some intriguing clues to future research in his letter.
• Trudy and Stan Goldstein, California: “Having attended the 3-day Lotte Lehmann Symposium, the indelible impressions of her voice, lore, art, remain forever! We will never be the same, in the best of senses, and fell ‘in love’ with her. Pleased to receive your newsletter and located Die Walküre CD, as well as Lehmann “Opera Arias” in L.A.’s Tower Records… If there are any ‘opera fanatic’ groups in Santa Barbara, send information…We are active master class attenders of Music Academy of the West.”
Special thanks to Imogene Henderson of Santa Barbara for her gift to the Lehmann Archives of letters from Lehmann to singer/teacher Ruth Michaelis, photos, and other memorabilia.
-JS
Trivia Contest
One of our readers requests a translation of the Lotte Lehmann League slogan or rallying whoop, to be found on the front cover. We toss it back to our quick-witted musical friends, and wonder how many of you can guess where it comes from. “Wir sind Euer Liebden in alIer Ewigkeit verbunden.” To be fair, we must say it is an incorrect quote. The original quotation begins with “Ich bin..” First correct answer to Judy Sutcliffe receives a Vienna Staatsoper poster from the performance on Lotte Lehmann’s 100th birthday, February 27, 1988.
Questionnaire: sent to Lehmann students
Kathy Brown, a D.M.A-Vocal Performance candidate at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, is presently working on her dissertation entitled Lotte Lehmann: Artist Teacher.
A major part of her research will involve responses to a survey taken of former Lehmann students, who will be asked to answer a questionnaire evaluating Lehmann’s teaching and to relate their personal experiences while under Lehmann’s instruction.
Because she hopes to gather a comprehensive body of information about Lehmann’s teaching, Mrs. Brown wants to reach as many former Lehmann students as possible. The questionnaires will be mailed to former Lehmann students by the end of July. Anyone who was a participant or observer of Lehmann master classes and who wishes to comment on Lehmann’s teaching techniques is invited to contact Mrs. Brown.
• Kathy Brown
1125 W. Highland Terrace,
Bolivar, MO 65613
417-326-6906
A List of Lists
by Gary Hickling
Until a few years ago I knew nothing of the many lists of recordings (LPs, 45rpms, 78rpms and CDs) that were available. For those who want to purchase out-of-print recordings of Lehmann (or any other artist), this is a way to do it. There are two kinds of lists: one has fixed prices for each recording and the other has a minimum bid in a silent auction. In the first case you will be able to purchase your record if your order arrives first. In the second, obviously the highest bid wins. For duplicate high bids, the earliest post mark wins the selection.
[Now these lists may be available on the WWW.]
• Kevork Marouchian
Cosimastr. 103, 8000
Munich 81, Germany
(78rpms only)
• Dr. Helmut Haack
Ludolf Krehl 17, 6900
Heidelberg, Germany
(one list a year)
• Jean Marc Teuchtler
Windmühlgasse 10, 1060
Vienna 6
• Larry Holdridge
54 East Lake Dr.
Amityville, L.I, NY 11701
• Milt Weirs
2120 N.E 171st. St.
North Miami Beach, FL 33162.
More addresses for mail order:
• Record Collector
1158 N. Highland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
213-467-2875
• Ars Antiqua
1707 E. 2nd St.
Bloomington, IN 47401
812-333-2334 or 331-1131
• Polyphony
P.O. Box 515
Highland Park, IL 60035
• Berkshire Record Outlet
102 Pleasant St. RR1
Lee, MA 01238-9804.
Another way to enter the world of old recordings, archives and discographies is to join the ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections). There are regular newsletters, yearly journals, and conventions. As a member, you can submit articles on your recent projects or request material that you’re lacking. The address is:
• ARSC
P.O. Box 543
Annapolis, MD 21404-0543.
Lotte Lehmann League Newsletter Fall 1989 Volume 1, number 3
Lehmann Centennial in Vienna
by Judy Sutcliffe
In the summer of 1987 I heard that there was to be a special performance of Der Rosenkavalier at the Vienna Opera on Lotte Lehmann’s 100th birthday, February 27, 1988, followed by a lecture the next day by Marcel Prawy, of the Opera. I decided to go. Eric Hvølboll, a young Santa Barbara lawyer, volunteered to accompany me. His mother, Elizabeth Hvølboll, is a local singer who studied at the Music Academy during Lehmann times.
In Vienna we contacted Hertha Schuch, one of Lehmann’s friends and admirers from the Golden Days before the war. The three of us sat in box seats for the Rosenkavalier performance, Eric and I much awed at the whole spectacle. During intermission we admired and photographed the extensive display of Lehmann photographs, programs, paintings and memorabilia that Marcel Prawy had assembled for this Lehmann weekend.
The opera was opulently performed. Hertha remarked afterward, however, with a sigh, “Lotte wasn’t there.” Those whose memories hold her indelible image are rarely satisfied with today’s substitutes.
But Lotte was there the next day, and I was mightily surprised and overwhelmed. There was to be a lecture by Prawy. Somehow, I expected a small academic room somewhere in the opera building, and a lot of elderly people and some empty seats, it having been 50 years since Lehmann was on that stage. (I had walked into a classical record shop in Santa Barbara one day, asked the clerk if he had the new EMI CD of Lotte Lehmann, and he said, “Who? Oh, I always wondered who that concert hall was named for.”) With that small expectation, I walked into the Vienna Opera itself, to box seats arranged by Hertha, and we looked out and up at a full house, thronged with people, 2,000 or more, all ages. There was a lively bustling of voices across the hall, I thought I spotted Grace Bumbry in one of the box seats.
Marcel Prawy came on stage at 2 p.m. and lectured–talked extemporaneously, I should say, with humor and vivacity–about Lehmann for two and a half hours. His comments were interspersed with tape recordings of Lehmann’s voice. I don’t know much about sound systems and hall acoustics, but I was thoroughly shaken by the resonance of her voice as it soared, clear and vibrant, filling that opera house with its magnificence. Tears, welled up in my eyes, and I could hear sniffles in the handkerchiefs across the house every time her voice rang out.
During his lecture, Prawy invited several colleagues to talk. He asked Egon Seefehlner, a past director of the Vienna Opera, to describe the indescribable, Lehmann’s voice. Seefehlner said simply that it was the only one that could make him weep.
We who are left with the legacy of her records, tend to listen to them in small living rooms, being careful not to disturb the neighbors with too much volume. There was a dimensional difference to hearing her recorded voice in the Vienna Opera, and I can only wonder at what the added dimension of her living fibre did to those who were born early enough, on the right side of the Atlantic, to hear. But I understood why all those people were there, weeping.
Seefehlner, if my understanding of German was anywhere accurate, said that he had first heard Lehmann sing when he was fourteen, and then many times after until the war. He met her again during the 1955 reopening of the Vienna Opera, the first time she returned after 1938. [actually1937]
He then said that his next meeting with Lehmann was in 1976 when he sat in his office at the Opera, staring in disbelief at a small bronze box on his desk labeled Lotte Lehmann. “All that was left of that glorious voice and presence was a mere handful of sand,” he said. The urn of ashes had been sent from Santa Barbara for a memorial service on the marble steps of the Opera entryway, the old section which had survived the war. Her remains were buried in a place of honor in the Vienna cemetery.
As a special tribute to Lehmann, Grace Bumbry, her most famous student, came down to the stage to talk with Prawy about Lehmann’s influence as a teacher of lieder and opera interpretation. Miss Bumbry sang “Auf dem Kirchhofe”, by Brahms, twice to demonstrate the dramatic and emotional difference in presentation that she had learned from Lehmann.
After the lecture, we walked through the snow back to Hertha Schuch’s apartment, and, as if we had not had quite enough, we watched with her a half hour TV presentation on Lehmann by Marcel Prawy. This, by the way, capped a week that contained four radio programs on Lehmann as well.
The love, honor and respect I saw showered upon the memory of Lehmann in Vienna last year made me smile at this comment in a letter we received from Dr. Herman Schornstein: “On one of my jaunts to Bad Gastein with Lehmann in the late 60’s, we journeyed by car across Austria to spend part of the time in Schruns. We stopped, without any prior planning, in Innsbruck for lunch. Within minutes some Austrian youth came up with a postcard of LL to sign! So I imagine they did something special for her 100th.”
Essential Lehmann in Print
While the Lehmann voice spins new enchantments from compact disks, the details of how she became “the greatest German soprano of the 20th Century” are to be found in two books published in 1988.
Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera and Song, by Beaumont Glass, tracks her amazing career from small town childhood to the singing teacher who told her she had absolutely no talent, to her debuts on opera stages of Hamburg and Vienna. The book follows her career in the US in opera and lieder, as well as in master classes at the Music Academy of the West. It contains an index and the first of Gary Hickling’s discographies. 80 photos.
Lotte Lehmann: 1888-1976, A Centenary Biography, by Alan Jefferson, covers the musical career of Lehmann quite thoroughly and contains an 11 page tabular listing of all of Lehmann’s opera performances, a discography by Floris Juynbol, 23 photos. We do not know of a US source for the book, which is published by Julia MacRae Books in London.
Dr. Richard Exner’s Centennial Symposium lecture on “Strauss, Hoffmannsthal and Lehmann” has been published by the UCSB Library and is available in Soundings 1988 from:
• Librarian’s Office
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106.
Lotte Lehmann’s More Than Singing: The Interpretation of Songs has been reprinted in paperback by Dover. This is an invaluable guide not only to the aspiring singer of lieder but to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of this art.
• Dover Publications Inc.
31 East 2nd St.
Mineola, NY 11501
and in bookstores.
Dr. Herman Schornstein wrote: “The July/August issue of Santa Barbara has a pleasing article, ‘Lotte Lehmann: On the Wings of Emotion,’ containing eight mainly uncommon photos plus examples of Lehmann’s wit. This nicely compliments the issue’s feature piece on the Music Academy of the West.
• Santa Barbara Magazine
216 E Victoria St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(Ed. The article has factual errors, but is still worthwhile.)
In addition to the Santa Barbara magazine article on Lehmann, an extensive feature appears in the annual historical magazine of the Westerners Corral of Santa Barbara, La Reata. The 1989 publication contains an article by Judy Sutcliffe on Lotte Lehmann’s first home in Santa Barbara, a mountain lodge that burned in a spectacular canyon fire. Seventeen photos, most never before published.
• Santa Barbara Westerners Corral
P.O. Box 1454
Santa Barbara, CA 93102.
-JS
Poster on its way
We had a Trivia Contest last issue, with, as prize, a Vienna Opera poster of the performance dedicated to Lotte Lehmann on her 100th birthday. The question was, whenceforth cometh the quote on the front cover of our Newsletter, “Wir sind Euer Liebden in aller Ewigkeit verbunden”? Very shortly after we had mailed the newsletters, I found a message on my tape recorder, “This is Pat (Jennings) Armstrong,…I know exactly what that quote is because it’s the part that I sang with her (Music Academy) production of Rosenkavalier, -it’s one of the first things that Sophie says in the second act, where she’s speaking to the Rosenkavalier…’I am to your honor much indebted. I am to your honor to all eternity indebted’ Now, the translation that we used was… ‘I’ll be for your kindness in all eternity most grateful’ And I hope I win that poster!”
And she did! A couple days later vocal teacher Shirley Sproule called from Tucson, Arizona. She was another Lehmann master class student who well remembered the lines.
When Gary Hickling and I were starting to put the first newsletter together, I thought we ought to have a slogan, and asked my friend Mr. Rudolph Joseph if he could think of an appropriate quote from Der Rosenkavalier. He immediately replied, “Ich bin Euer Liebden in aller Ewigkeit verbunden.” And that was that. He wasn’t assistant to a top theatrical producer in Berlin at the age of 19 for nothing. In the 1950’s he set up the film department for Brooks lnstitute of Photography in Santa Barbara. He had a curious clause in his contract which allowed him to go to the Music Academy any time that Lehmann was giving a master class.
-JS
More Lists
In the last Newsletter I listed mail order houses that deal in out-of-print records. Often, Lehmann recordings (both 78rpm & LP) are available from such firms. Here are a few more:
• Immortal Performances
1404 West 30th Street
Austin, TX 78703
• Honan & Booth
33301 Bremerton
Dana Point, CA 92629
• Omniclassic
2410 Tiebout Ave.
Bronx, NY 10458
• Try Tone Records
1614 Francis
Carrollton, TX 75006
• Lane Audio & Records
1782 Manor Dr.
Vista, CA 92048
• Henry Kurtz
4026 Jackson Ave.
Culver City, CA 90232-3232
Happy hunting.
The Lehmann RCA CD Story
by Gary Hickling
In 1986, as preparations were underway for the Lehmann Centennial, I wrote to all the companies which had recorded Lehmann to see if they were planning to celebrate her centennial. In March of ’87 RCA Red Seal Executive Producer John Pfeiffer wrote: “I will certainly plan a CD of Miss Lehmann’s recordings and would strongly consider any suggestions you may have for its content considering that I would like a program of between 65 and 72 minutes in length.”
I immediately wrote to vocal experts William R. Moran & Philip Lieson Miller, who both responded with their suggestions. One of the elements that would make the release exciting would be the first publication of some of Lehmann’s songs recorded in the 1930’s. Moran responded: “The matter of their existence is something else again…(Mr. Pfeiffer)…will have to check the vaults, see if (metal) parts exist for wanted titles…there is a long process here…un-released items sell records…but music be selected only if they are good…if they were not originally released because of vocal faults, then we do the artist a disservice by publishing them.”
Eventually the metal masters were located and sent to Moran in California. Published 78rpm’s existed in Moran’s collection, often in perfect condition, and could be used for the CD. A few recordings of the 1940’s were missing, however. Milwaukee vocal record collector Harold Huber agreed to send his 45rpm’s (which also have quieter surfaces) for transfer. One of the rarest items was a test pressing of Schubert’s Nacht und Träume which existed only in Frances Holden’s collection. She graciously allowed its inclusion in this historic production. Moran’s careful transfer hides the blemishes, surface noise and less than high quality pressing of this test.
On a search of their vaults, RCA came up with the metal masters for eight 10″ 78rpm recordings which had never been released in any form. The metal masters for these recordings are mirror images of the familiar 78rpm recordings, i.e, instead of a groove normally tracked by the needle, the sound track is a ridge, and to be played, the metal master must be played on a turntable which revolves in a counterclockwise direction, or backwards from the normal turntable. Using specifically developed equipment and techniques, Moran produced tapes which were sent back to RCA for digital processing for final CD presentation.
Philip Miller wrote an informative three page evaluation of Lehmann which is translated into German, French and Italian. This was, after all, an international release.
What is the result? In my opinion, generally wonderful. As Friedman mentions elsewhere in this newsletter, Lehmann’s French is surprisingly idiomatic. The English songs are effective and the German nothing less than Lehmann’s high standard best. For me, the Nacht und Träume is especially moving. I’m not so thrilled with the two Italian songs and I’m disappointed that no translations are provided. But this is a mid-priced CD and cost was probably a factor. The transfers are superlative. Many thanks to William Moran for his dedication and to John Pfeiffer for his determination to produce this CD.
Report from the Lehmann Archives
In the last Newsletter, we reported on the implementation of the Lehmann project at the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Lehmann Archives to organize, preserve and make accessible the sound recordings. Susan Bower, director of this project, and James Stenger, the Lehmann Archive’s Audio Assistant, report the following progress. –GH
A preliminary inventory of all recordings in the Lehmann Archive has been completed, and the recordings housed in a separate and safe location within UCSB’s Archive of Recorded Vocal Music. Available acetate recordings have been dubbed onto both analog open-reel tapes and onto DATs, and the systematic dubbing of the commercially issued 78rpm recordings has begun. This part of the project is scheduled for completion sometime in December.
In addition, letters, announcements and ads have been sent to private collectors as well as to several journals, publicizing the existence and the activities of the Archive, and seeking donations of additional recordings or duplicates of mint-condition recordings already in hand but not in the best condition. The Archive is dependent on donations to round out this already fantastic collection which documents Mme. Lehmann’s career.
The next step is to set up a listening station in the Lehmann Archive Room of our Special Collections Department where it will be possible for the public to hear cassette tapes of Lehmann recordings. Soon to be added are dubs of non-commercial items, which include live performances, master classes and interviews.
-Susan Bower and James Stenger
I’m happy to report that Jim Stenger sent me eight cassettes, copies of the Northwestern University Lehmann Master Classes. These will allow me to report on the actual contents of the master classes, not just list the selections taught. Future scholars will need to know specifics because the material is so vast. Many thanks also to Christel Benner of the University of Hamburg’s Theater Collection for sending copies of Lehmann-related clippings from German newspapers and periodicals. These articles document her retirement years, birthdays and include several obituaries. –GH
Reviews
Fanfare magazine reviewed both Glass’ Lehmann biography and the three record LP set released by the Lehmann Archives. Of the biography, Ralph Lucano writes: “Fans of Lehmann will find Glass’ lengthy and loving encomium fascinating and worthwhile.” The same critic refers to the song recordings as a “Bonanza…Lehmann’s voice popped out of my speakers with pristine clarity and astonishing presence. I don’t think she could have been more faithfully recorded had it been done yesterday…Lehmann introduces each song with a charming, pithy commentary…Her remarks are terse but informative enough to lend the album considerable educational value. The real lessons, however, are in the performances themselves. Lehmann can make even Der Nussbaum sound fresh and new, and Schubert’s famous serenade…had such a come-hither urgency that I had to fight the impulse to move closer to my speakers. The contrasting stanzas of Frühlingstraum are tellingly differentiated, and for Der Leierman, Lehmann adopts a dazed, other-worldly tone that freezes the blood. She’s airy and girlish in Mozart’s Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling, and she has four different voices for Erlkönig…And she makes it all sound so easy! She chooses comfortable keys, usually a bit below the printed signatures (though she rises to a thrilling top A in Ich grolle nicht and again in the Strauss Ständchen, and she brings to life the ideal of singing as heightened speech. Lehmann confides in us, pours her heart out, tells us stories, makes us smile or weep. Her words are clearly uttered and bound firmly to the musical line, and she makes singing sound like the most natural, most immediate mode of expression anyone could imagine. Very few of her successors have matched her combination of warmth, directness, and timbral allure. To hear Lehmann is to know suddenly what we’ve been missing….Absolutely essential” The 3 LP album is available from:
• Lotte Lehmann Archives
c/o University Librarian
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Lehmann CDs
The Lohengrin CD with Lehmann & Melchior mentioned in the last Newsletter is available from Qualiton Importers Ltd Phone: (718) 937-8515 and ask to speak to Customer Service.
Another Der Rosenkavalier CD has been released: Pearl Gemm CDS 9365. With no access to original metal masters, this company has presented a CD version of the 78s of the famous 1933 recording. An earlier recording on Odeon of O sei er gut… die Zeit die ist ein sonderbar Ding (which was omitted from the HMV production) is included. The final section of this generous double disc is filled with excerpts from historic records of other Strauss operas. It is also available from Qualiton. We have yet to find a source for the Références CD in the US.
Sealed With A Song
A delightful letter arrived this summer from Alfred Frankenstein in Munich, sent with a Lotte Lehmann stamp! Yes! if you have German connections, get them to send you Lehmann stamps.
If you have no pen pals there, write for an order form to: Deutsche Bundespost, Postamt 1, Versandstelle für Postwertzeichen, Postfach 2000, 6000 Frankfurt I, Germany.
It’s a 180 pf. stamp (almost a dollar). If you want to try to bypass the form, send either a cashier’s check or an international money order (made out to Deutsche Bundespost), and allow a couple of dollars for postage and handling. The order number of the stamp is Postwertzeichen-Nr.1024, Lotte Lehmann. A check for $50 bought 52 stamps. –JS
Frank Manhold, in Munich, sent first day covers of the Lehmann stamp which includes its issue date (13 July 89) and information about the artist. It was designed by Professor Gerd Aretz from a black & white photo. It was etched by Jacek Kanior. The first day cover has accurate biographical information and was issued both as a normal German and a special Berlin stamp. [At that time West Berlin was a postal area of West Germany.] The order number is 1112, ETB Nr. 12/1989 Frauen der deutschen Geschichte. The cost is [in 1989 was] DM 4.70, approximately $2.50.
Now we should encourage Austria and the US to issue Lehmann stamps. That’s not an idle suggestion; we avid Lehmann fans can make things happen. We can request the local library to carry Lehmann books and records or suggest that our classical radio station present a LL tribute. –GH
Lehmann Photos
When Judy and I were in Austria we located a great number of Lehmann photos. In many cases these didn’t exist in the Lehmann Archives at UCSB. We ordered 94 from Salzburg and many more from Vienna to be copied and sent to us. Printed from original glass negatives, the results are as if they were taken yesterday, with a clarity and tonal gradation that we expect in art photos. Formal, candid, costumed or street wear, the photos of Lehmann at Salzburg and Vienna are a treasure. We have described the content of each photo and bound them in a protective book for presentation to the Archives. In those photos where we can’t identify all the subjects, Frances Holden has agreed to help.
While examining the photos at the National Library of Vienna we discovered an error in Glass’ Lehmann biography. The photo labeled Orfeus and Eurydice is actually Wunder der Heliane.
If you have unique Lehmann photos, letters etc., send to the Lehmann Archives.
-GH
Those cards and letters
We really do enjoy the letters and calls that have come back to us from newsletter mailings. There is such enthusiasm out there for Lehmann, and we are delighted to hear from you. We’d like to quote from a few letters:
• Dr. Herman Schornstein, “I’d heard her several times as a teenager and after becoming established as a physician I wrote asking if perhaps she had a painting or watercolor for sale. I had seen the exhibition of Winterreise watercolors at the Pasadena Art Museum prior to hearing her sing the cycle in the Pasadena Playhouse. That began an extraordinary relationship.
• “My wife and I traveled with LL from Santa Barbara to NYC for the closing of the Met…My wife later told me the woman who sat next to her asked if THAT was Lotte Lehmann. My wife said she didn’t know! The woman said she was pretty sure she was…and asked, ‘Didn’t you ever hear her?’ My wife replied, ‘No.’ The woman indicated it was a pity as she was so extraordinary, explaining, ‘Every time she’d open her mouth you’d, you’d (searching for a word) just want to cry.’
• “After lunch they showed a Leslie Caron film which Lehmann casually watched during the inevitable conversational lulls (my awe was vast)…During a love scene between Caron and Mel Ferrer, she suddenly turned to me and asked,’Dr. Schornstein, can you imagine anything more disgusting than kissing Lauritz Melchior?’ (The thought had never entered my mind; it has occasionally intruded itself since.) She went on to explain that happily in opera one could fake kisses, but not on the screen.”
• Professor Dr. B. von Barsewisch, Munich: “I gratefully received the first letter of the Lotte Lehmann League. I am a grandson of Baron Konrad zu Putlitz who played an important role in Mme. Lehmann’s life…The family had always been in touch with Mme. Lehmann, so I heard of her first when she sent Care-parcels to us when we were refugees in West Germany. I met Lotte (as she asked me to call her) several times in Europe and in her home in Santa Barbara. I have no early material and also what Mme. Lehmann might have written to the Putlitz family before 1945 is lost. I have only late letters from her. But in case you have any questions about the circumstances of the family zu Putlitz I am an expert on that.”
• We received a letter from EMI’s Keith Hardwick, London. Though it was his original intention to use only metal masters for the EMI CD of Lehmann arias, he wrote that several metal parts “had seriously deteriorated”. Vinyl pressings made directly from original metal masters were used for the Fidelio, Freischütz, Lohengrin, Tristan (the start of XXB 8497 Du bist der Lenz… is unusable), Wunder der Heliane, and Eva arias.”
• Ed Wilkonson, San Francisco, wrote with a detailed nine page list of Mme. Lehmann’s radio broadcasts from around the world. Little known programs such as “American Preferred,” “Standard Hour” and the “Nash Speedshow” were mixed with the famous sources listed~below.
Here are just a few samples of some of the most important broadcasts not heretofore listed in the available Lehmann discographies:
Covent Garden:
• Fidelio, 30 Apr.’34;
• Die Walküre, 2 May 34;
• Die Meistersinger, 1 Jun. 34;
• Lohengrin;
all conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham;
New York Philharmonic:
• Alceste: “Divinitées du Styx”, Oberon: “Ozean, du Ungeheuer”, 29 Jan. 33;
• Die Walküre, Act 1, 30 Dec.34;
both conducted by Bruno Walter.
If any readers know of acetates or other sources for these broadcasts, or others not listed in the discography, please contact me. The acoustic life of acetates has almost expired, and if we don’t rescue these things now, they will be lost forever. Anyone interested in a copy of Mr. Wilconson’s list may also write me, Gary Hickling.
• One of Mme. Lehmann’s biographers, Dr. Berndt Wessling, has kindly sent copies of his Lehmann correspondence for the Archives at UCSB.
• We received a great number of tape recordings of Lehmann interviews. Our contact in Germany sent items from the North German Radio, RIAS Berlin, and the Bavarian Radio.
• John Kovach sent a snippet of an interview done in Australia when Mme. Lehmann was on tour there.
• Darrel Strong sent detailed discographical data from RCA’s files in New York. The five pages include information on each original master disposition and present status of each preserved “take”.
• Jerry Minkoff was recently in London and while there spent time in the BBC archives researching Lehmann broadcasts. He sent data from the files that will enable the Lehmann Archives to request specific items not already represented. Valuable research!
• Larry Friedman, a French language teacher, writes: “I respond very positively to the products of French culture and am terribly picky about how French music should be performed…So imagine my surprise when I listened to Lehmann’s mélodies on the RCA CD. If the voice weren’t so immediately recognizable, I would have surely thought that it was a product ‘de la tradition française’. It’s a wonderful disc…” (See the article on the RCA CD in this newsletter.)
• Dr. Schornstein sent an acetate for preservation. William Moran writes: “It is an acetate copy of some work acetates…There is applause at the end…The originals from which this copy was made were in sad shape…Titles are Im Frühling, An eine Quelle, Auflösung (Schubert) and Frühlingslied (Brahms).” Moran will send tape copies of these rarities to UCSB.
• In a letter from Henry Hall in Australia he mentions “a man in N.Y. who has on his tape list the Wesendoncklieder, Salzburg 26/8/1934, also a Broadcast Liederabend 20/8/1935 (LL and Bruno Walter–Mozart, Schumann, Duparc, Mussorgski, Berlioz, & Brahms); and two recitals with Bruno Walter: 1/ 8/1937 and 20/8/1937”.
If anyone can tell me on whose list these selections appear I would be most grateful. These selections don’t appear in my discography, that of Floris Juynboll or in any information at the Lehmann Archives –GH
Lehmann on the Radio
Jim Sjveda, in his Opera Box radio program on KUSC (Los Angeles, 90007), July 25, 1989, devoted a special program to famous interpreters of the Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. These included Fremstad, Leider, Flagstad, Callas, Tebaldi, and Nilsson. At the very end of the hour he played one last version, introduced with these words: “It was always a tremendous pity that the great German soprano of the 20th century and the greatest of all German soprano roles were never able to come together. The singer herself flirted with the idea throughout most of her career but being the intelligent woman and the canny artist that she was, she realized that it would always remain well outside her vocal grasp.
“Fortunately, in 1930 she left a version of the Liebestod that gave us a clue as to what that characterization might have been. Vocally, it is neither opulent nor overwhelming. But then again, none of her finest recordings ever were. And yet, as an interpretation of the scene, as a projection of the character, as a subtle delineation of the meaning of every single word, it is still THE Liebestod of the century. [music] The closing moments of a role she was never once able to sing on stage, the Liebestod, the final moments of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, from a recording made in 1930 by soprano Lotte Lehmann.” Happily, that ethereal rendition of the Liebestod is to be found on the EMI Lotte Lehmann Opera Arias compact disk released earlier this year. –JS
On the National Public Radio program “Chamber Music from Santa Fe,” Fred Calland presented a loving tribute to Mme. Lehmann. It included samples of famous recordings, as well as her reading and singing Ich grolle nicht from Schumann’s Dichterliebe. The tribute included accurate information on Lehmann’s life and career and was probably initiated because former Lehmann student, Benita Valente, sang on this program of chamber music. As a related aside, Miss Valente recently visited the Lehmann Archives and was favorably impressed.
–GH