Lotte Lehmann Chronology

LL as Fidelio

This Lotte Lehmann Chronology is divided into four parts. A condensed one-page version can be found below.

The following people have helped with the chronology research: Dr. Herman Schornstein, Shirley Sproule, Hertha Schuck; chronology researcher Nicolai Heske provided the recital and church concert dates that Lehmann sang early in her career in Hamburg. Historic chronology work continued with help from chronologists Charles Mintzer, who wrote Rosa Raisa’s biography, and Bob Tuggle, Director of the Metropolitan Opera Archives. The Lehmann Chronology also had help from researchers in Vienna (Karin Neuwirth, Peter Claussen, Jean-Pascal Vachon), Stockholm, Hamburg (Alfred Kaine), Paris (Jean-Pascal Vachon), and Chicago  (Rebecca Kahn).

Condensed Lehmann Chronology

1888 Born in Perleberg, Germany

1910 Hamburg Opera debut

1916 Sings premier of Ariadne auf Naxos, Vienna Opera

1919 Sings premier of Frau ohne Schatten, Vienna Opera

1920 Sings Vienna premier of Suor Angelica, Vienna Opera

1924 Covent Garden debut as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier

1924 Sings premier of Intermezzo, Dresden Opera

1926 Sings Vienna premier of Turandot, Vienna Opera

1930 First US appearances

1932 First Town Hall recital

1933 Sings Vienna premier of Arabella, Vienna Opera

1934 Metropolitan Opera debut (Sieglinde in Die Walküre)

1937 Leaves Vienna for the US; tours Australia

1939 Her husband, Otto Krause, dies

1946 Final opera appearances

1947 Helps found the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, where she lives and teaches both privately and at the MAW

1947 Appears in MGM’s Big City

1950 Exhibits her paintings

1951 Final song recital appearances

1952 Master Classes (Pasadena, MAW and later throughout the world)

1953 “Evening with Lotte Lehmann” a series of staged performances, in which her students sang, and Lehmann spoke

1960 Produces Arabella at MAW (regularly produces opera performances there)

1961 NET records her opera and Lieder master classes at MAW

1976 Dies, Santa Barbara, California, US