You may read what critics and musicians have written about Lehmann on a page called: Lehmann Praise and… Also available: what authors have written about Lehmann.
In a category by itself are the books dedicated to Lehmann, such as Charles Osborne in his 1974 book, The concert song companion. “To Lotte Lehmann in friendship and admiration” or the movie on Schubert called The Greatest Love and the Greatest Sorrow by Christopher Nupen, whose life in music was inspired by his meeting Lehmann.
Lotte Lehmann was a good and active writer. You’ll find her bibliography below. Go to “Misc. Writings” for short pieces and articles. It includes:
1. The unpublished introduction to Eighteen Song Cycles.
1a. The published introduction “Lieder Interpretation” to Eighteen Song Cycles
2. Lotte Lehmann’s first poem in English
3. “Listening to My Old Records”
4. On Eleanor Steber (Time Aug 17, 1953)
5. Toscanini Retired: I dare not believe it
6. Poem: Mit Bruno Walter am Klavier... (with English translation)
7. Wir von der Oper excerpt in English
8. Excerpt from Lehmann’s novel Eternal Flight
9. Lehmann’s Tribute to Elisabeth Schumann
10. Comparison of a Lehmann poem with her changes.
11. Lehmann’s Poetry (in English translation by Judith Sutcliffe)
12. Foreword and Postscript to Lehmann’s 1938 autobiography Midway in My Song
13. Foreword to Lehmann’s More Than Singing, the Interpretation of Songs.
14. Sieben Lehmannlieder, the poems and the recording of Thomas Pasatieri’s song cycle to the Lehmann poems
15. The article Lehmann wrote for the Theatre Arts Monthly magazine in 1937: “A Singing Actress Attacks Her Part”
16. A silly sarcastic piece that Lehmann wrote for her friends (in her type-written manuscript) followed by my translation into English
17. A poem Lehmann wrote about singing on the radio
18. On Der Rosenkavalier (An in-depth analysis and interpretation of the story and music).
19. Toscanini
20. Bruno Walter found outlet in writing too.
Bibliography
Books by Lehmann (In chronological order)
Verse in Prosa, Hugo Heller-Bukum AG, Vienna (1923) (Leipzig and New York as well). I’ve provided quite a few of these poems (in German) for you to enjoy. Here’s an excerpt:
“Das muss ein Grosses sein: die Kraft zu tiefster Einsamkeit. Da oben sternennah zu wandeln, so hoch, dass aller Klang der Erde so wie ein Lied der Wogen wird, das ein urewig sprachenloses Rauschen dem Strand entgegenträgt. Das muss ein Grosses sein: den kühlen Odem schneebedeckter Bergesgipfel zu spüren und su wissen: das heisse Leben, das dort unten in den Tälern glüht, nie findet es den Weg zu mir in meine Einsamkeit. Wo ist die Kraft, die mich hinaufreisst in die Höhen, nach denen einzig meine Sehnsucht geht? Die Hände, die mich halten, heissen Liebe, Güte. Das muss ein schmerzlich Grosses sein: die Kraft, aus lieben, gütigen Händen sich zu lösen und einzugeh’n in stolze Einsamkeit.”
Here’s an English translation:
That must be an enormity: the strength to deepest solitude. To wander up there near the stars, so high, that all sounds of the Earth become like a song of the waves, carrying an eternal wordless murmuring (roar) towards the beach.
That must be an enormity: to feel (sense) the cool breath of the snow covered mountain peak and to know: the torrid life that glows down there below in the valleys, never finding its way to me in my solitude. Where is the strength, that pulls me up on to the heights, for which I alone yearn and long? The hands that hold me are called Love and Kindness.
That must be a painful enormity: the strength, from life, to release oneself from loving, kind hands to enter into proud solitude.
Anfang und Aufstieg, Herbert Reichner Verlag, Vienna 1937 (Original [German] version of Lehmann’s memoires)
Orplid, mein Land, Novel, Herbert Reichner Verlag, Vienna 1937 (Original [German] version of Lehmann’s complicated and intriguing novel)
Eternal Flight, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York 1937 (English translation by Elsa Krauch, of Orplid, mein Land)
Midway in My Song, Bobbs-Merrill New York 1938 (American publication of Anfang und Aufstieg in the English translation by Margaret Ludwig) (Reprinted: Greenwood, Westport, Conn., 1970)
Wings of Song, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., London, 1938 (UK publication of Anfang und Aufstieg in a translation by Margaret Ludwig)
More than Singing, (translated by Frances Holden), Boosey & Hawkes, New York 1945 (reprinted: Greenwood, Westport, Conn., 1975; Dover paperback 1985)
Lotte Lehmann Album: Favorite Songs from Her Repertoire. How much input Lehmann had in the 1945 spiral bound compendium of well-known Lieder is questionable.
My Many Lives, (translated by Frances Holden), Boosey & Hawkes, New York 1948; (reprinted: Greenwood, Westport, Conn., 1974)
Five Operas and Richard Strauss, (translated by Ernst Pawel), Macmillan, New York 1964 (reprinted by Da Capo 1982)
Singing with Richard Strauss, Hamish Hamilton, London 1964 (UK publication of Five Operas and Richard Strauss)
Gedichte, Rudolf Reischl OHG, Salzburg 1969 (121 pages of poetry in German)
Eighteen Song Cycles, Cassell, London 1971 (mostly taken from earlier books)
Biographies of Lotte Lehmann
(In the chronological order of their publication)
Lotte Lehmann…mehr als eine Sängerin, Berndt W. Wessling; Residenz Verlag, Salzburg, 1969. In German; a kind of biography with input from many authors (including Lehmann), a wide range of photos; reproduced letters from composers, colleagues and conductors; programs and other memorabilia.
Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera and Song, Beaumont Glass; Capra Press, Santa Barbara, 1988. A complete biography, the “official” biography. This official status allowed Glass access to original sources in the Lehmann Archives at UCSB and many interviews with Lehmann’s friend Frances Holden in Orplid where they lived. Many photos. Includes a complete discography by Gary Hickling.
Lotte Lehmann: 1888-1976 A Centenary Biography, Alan Jefferson, Julia MacRae Books, A Division of Walker Books, London, 1988. A fairly complete biography. Since Jefferson didn’t have access to the Lehmann Archives, his book relies more on testimony of students and colleagues. Some photos, good statistical tables of Lehmann’s opera performances. An excellent discography by Floris Juynboll; doesn’t include much information on the non-commercial portion of Lehmann’s legacy.
Lotte Lehmann: Eine Biographie, Alan Jefferson, trans. into German by Ulrike and Manfred Halbe-Bauer, Schweizer Verlagshaus, Zürich; 1991. Essentially the same as the English version. An updated discography by Juynboll, again with a short version of the non-commercial material.
Lotte Lehmann: “Sie sang, dass es Sterne rührte”: Eine Biographie, Berndt W. Wessling, P.J. Tonger Musikverlag, Köln-Rodenkirchen, 1995. A complete biography in German, which includes much of the same material used in Mehr als eine Sängerin such as the good photos, reproduced letters, memorabilia etc. A bit more of the sordid side of diva battles and much conjecture by the late author.
Never Sang for Hitler, The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann, Dr. Michael Kater, Cambridge University Press, 2008. A thorough look at the historic context of Lehmann’s eighty-eight years. Kater doesn’t hesitate to analyze or criticize or speculate. No mere account of LL’s successes, this book tells the difficult aspects of LL’s personality and her various relationships.
Here is a review of Never Sang for Hitler, The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann.
For the September 2008 edition of Commentary magazine, Terry Teachout wrote: “The Heroine Who Wasn’t: A new biography reveals a disillusioning truth about the great soprano Lotte Lehmann, as, alas, about many artists.”
Beyond the making of art, what can we or should we expect from great artists? In particular, do their gifts excuse them from the ordinary ethical responsibilities of other human beings? Or should they be held to generally accepted standards of conduct—if not higher ones? No matter how self-evident the answers to these questions may seem, history proves them to be less obvious in practice.
In the case of music, no historical event has been more telling in this regard than World War II. While some well-known European musicians responded with integrity to the rise of the Hitler regime, far more collaborated more or less willingly with the Nazis. And now that historians have begun to apply stricter scrutiny to the wartime conduct of European artists, it is becoming evident that most—including some whose conduct was once thought impeccable—were opportunists who behaved no better than they had to.
Into which camp did Lotte Lehmann fall? Born in Prussia in 1888, Lehmann was one of a handful of non-Jewish German musicians to choose emigration over collaboration with the Nazis, moving to America and remaining there after the war. It has long been taken for granted that her decision to abandon her European career was both principled and courageous, since, from 1916 until the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, she was one of the Vienna State Opera’s most popular singers. But her story turns out to have been more complicated than it looks, and Michael H. Kater tells it with well-informed candor in Never Sang for Hitler: The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888-1976.1
Kater, a professor of history at York University in Toronto, is the author of two previous books, The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich (1997) and Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits (2000). Both cast a cold eye on the wartime conduct of the classical musicians of Nazi Germany, and his new book, which is the first primary-source biography of Lehmann, is very much in the same vein. For while Lehmann was no Nazi, neither was she an anti-Nazi. Kater leaves the reader in no possible doubt that she emigrated for reasons that had nothing to do with idealism—and everything to do with money.
Lehmann is less well known today than she was at the time of her death in 1976, when her great career was still a living memory in America. Throughout the middle part of her life, however, she was as famous here as she had been in Europe. Because she was not filmed in her prime and left behind no full-length commercial recordings of any of her operatic roles, her legendary prowess as a stage actress must now be taken on faith. But she recorded extensively between 1914 and 1949, and these performances add ample flesh to the bare bones of her reputation.
A “heavy” lyric soprano whose voice was more warm than brilliant, Lehmann was never known for the security of her high notes. Instead she opted for sincerity over showiness, singing with a heartfelt quality that Kater nicely describes as “soulfulness enhanced by chastity.” Though her repertoire ranged widely in her youth, she came to be closely identified with three German roles: Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre, and the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. All were ideally suited to her emotional inclinations (if not her vocal limitations), and her interpretations of these roles helped make her one of the most noted classical singers of her day.2
Success came early to Lehmann. She signed her first opera-house contract in 1910, just six years after beginning her musical studies, and two years later Strauss invited her to perform in the premiere of the revised version of his Ariadne auf Naxos. >From then on she moved from triumph to triumph, aided by the patronage of Strauss and of Bruno Walter, who not only conducted many of her stage performances but also accompanied her in recitals.
But while she was naturally bright, Lehmann’s modest background—her father was a low-level Prussian civil servant—had not prepared her to move in such exalted circles. Nor was she quite attractive enough to make up for her lack of social and intellectual poise. In Vienna, such commodities were at a premium, and for all her fame, Lehmann’s petit-bourgeois habits of mind caused her to be ill at ease in the city where she had won her fame.
The crassness of Wilhelmine Germany suited Lehmann better. When the Third Reich eventually beckoned, she made it known that she could be had—at a price.
In April 1934, Hermann Goering summoned her to Berlin and offered her a lucrative contract with the Berlin State Opera. According to Lehmann herself, he also offered a villa, a large pension, and a riding horse if she would agree to sing exclusively in Nazi Germany. As she told the story, Goering then sent her a contract that made no mention of “all the extravagant promises.” Unwilling to give up singing in America or in her “beloved Vienna,” she declined the offer, after which Goering sent her a letter “full of insults and low abuse” and banned her from performing in Germany. Later on, she said, the Nazis renewed their suit, but by then “my eyes had been opened to their crimes.”
Such, at any rate, was the version told by Lehmann and her publicists, and no one privy to the details of what had actually happened came forward to contradict them. Later on she embroidered the tale still further, claiming that she was “a fanatical anti-Nazi” whom, when she refused to sign on the dotted line, Goering accused of having “a Jewish junk-dealer’s soul.”
Alas, not much of this pretty story is true, as Michael Kater discovered in the course of researching Never Sang for Hitler. In fact, by the time Goering approached her, the Depression-wracked Vienna State Opera had cut the high-living soprano’s salary significantly and reduced the frequency of her appearances. Far from being opposed to Hitler, she was already performing so frequently in Germany that her Jewish friends chided her for her insensitivity. And the real reason her deal with Goering fell through, it turns out, was that in addition to her promised salary she asked for too many fringe benefits, including a six-room apartment in Berlin. Nor had Goering insisted that Lehmann sing only in Germany: To the contrary, he expected her to perform in other countries as an artistic ambassador of the Third Reich.
As soon as Lehmann understood that she had gone too far, moreover, she backpedaled, attempting to reopen negotiations by assuring Goering in a telegram that “my purely idealistic, artistic conception of my life’s work is, and always has been, to carry German art into the whole world.” But he ignored her entreaties, and once it became clear to Lehmann that she would henceforth not be welcome in her native land, she started telling foreign journalists that she was no longer willing to sing in Germany “as it was today.” And yet even after the Anschluss she went out of her way to request that the Vienna State Opera pension her off (which it did) rather than resigning from the company in protest, and it is clear that she would not have hesitated to accept Goering’s offer had it been sufficiently generous.
By then Lehmann had moved her base of operations to America. There she engaged a shrewd publicist, Constance Hope, who succeeded in establishing her as a popular celebrity. Not only did Lehmann sing at the Metropolitan Opera House, but she also became a frequent guest on Kraft Music Hall, Bing Crosby’s radio show, and made the cover of Time in 1935. The Time story is a period piece that says much about the way in which Hope marketed her as a democratic diva:
Toscanini attends all her recitals. She is Bruno Walter’s favorite singer. . . . Lehmann’s ways are unpretentious. She keeps no maid, answers her own telephone, does her own mending. Five years ago she was definitely large. Now 20 lbs. thinner, she watches her diet, never orders dessert.
That Lehmann was believed to have defied the Nazis served her well during World War II. “Like Bruno Walter and other world-famous artists,” Kater writes, “she enjoyed the incalculable advantage of having been a brand name before Hitler’s coming to power.” The willingness of the American media to swallow her tale of standing up to Goering earned her much good will among American music lovers—and she put it to use. As advancing age forced her to give up one after another of her demanding operatic roles, she shifted her focus to the recital stage, winning critical plaudits as a specialist in German art song and publishing two valuable books about vocal interpretation, More Than Singing (1945) and My Many Lives (1948).3 An attempt to repackage herself as a Hollywood actress proved unsuccessful, however, and in 1951 Lehmann retired from public performance to spend the rest of her life teaching in California, where she worked with such singers as Grace Bumbry and Marilyn Horne.
Though Lehmann spoke English with a thick accent and remained aloof from most aspects of American culture, the uncomplicated directness of American manners appears to have suited her far better than Vienna’s elaborate urbanity, and her later years were for the most part happy ones. She visited Europe after the war to teach a few public master classes, but mainly she stuck close to her new home and to the Music Academy of the West, the conservatory in Santa Barbara she had helped to found in 1946 and at which she taught voice for the rest of her active life.
Michael Kater’s interests in Never Sang for Hitler are more socio-historical than musical. Still, it is surprising that he has so little to say about the records that are now Lehmann’s main claim to fame. Since most of these performances are now out of print in this country, it is difficult for younger listeners to get to know the singing of the woman whom the British vocal connoisseur J.B. Steane described as “immensely alive, strong and intelligent as well as warm, tender and charming—perhaps after all as complete a human being as we have come to know through records of great singers.”
It remains to be seen whether Lehmann’s records will be as esteemed by tomorrow’s music lovers as they were in her lifetime and for many years afterward. Tastes in singing are subject to changes in fashion, and the matronly warmth that was her trademark is no longer as popular as it once was. While one cannot dismiss the near-universal testimony of the critics who described her as a singing actress beyond compare, the abridged Rosen-kavalier that she recorded in 1933 is not nearly so striking as reviews of her live performances might lead one to expect.4
But even if Lotte Lehmann herself should not continue to be so highly regarded in the 21st century as she was in the 20th, Never Sang for Hitler will remain valuable as a cautionary tale, not merely for artists who make the mistake of thinking themselves above the common run but also for anyone who idealistically believes that the ability to make great art endows the maker with superior moral perceptions. Even the greatest of artists are capable of behaving abominably and then lying about it afterward. Whatever the ultimate effect of the experience of beauty may be, no one who reads Never Sang for Hitler could ever again suppose that it infallibly ennobles the soul.
_____________
p>1 Cambridge, 394 pp., $35.00.
2 Lotte Lehmann: Opera and Lieder (Pearl GEMM CDS 9234, two CD’s) is a wide-ranging collection of recordings made by Lehmann between 1927 and 1942 that includes excerpts from Fidelio, Die Walküre, Der Rosenkavalier, and other operas. Though out of print in the U.S., it is still available in England and can be ordered directly from www.amazon.co.uk.
3 After 1935, Lehmann recorded only art songs, including the major cycles of Schubert and Schumann (the latter accompanied by Bruno Walter) and many individual songs by Brahms, Strauss, and Wolf. A six-CD series of reissues of her complete American recordings has been released in Europe by Naxos and can be ordered in the U.S. from www.norpete.com (Naxos 8.111093/97 and 8.111244).
4 The Marschallin’s first-act monologue from Rosenkavalier can be heard on Lotte Lehmann: Opera and Lieder, along with two lengthy excerpts from the abridged Walküre that Lehmann recorded for EMI in 1935 with Lauritz Melchior and the Vienna Philharmonic under Bruno Walter—to my mind her finest achievement on record.
Lotte Lehmann in America: Her Legacy as Artist Teacher, with Commentaries from Her Master Classes by Kathy H. Brown, College Music Society, 2012. Part of a series: Monographs and bibliographies in American music; no. 23. Free from typos and factual errors (though Lehmann didn’t sing in Salzburg in 1917 and she wasn’t the first opera prima donna to appear on the cover of Time magazine). There are a lot of photos and nice summaries of Lehmann’s life and career before she made America her home. There is a large section of Lehmann’s suggestions on art song taken directly from recordings of master classes and private lessons. Often, only Lehmann’s translation appears, which though accurate and charming doesn’t offer that much information that can’t be found in other sources. There’s a smaller section on opera arias. The original core of the book was Dr. Brown’s questionnaire that she sent out years ago to 29 of Lehmann’s students. Their responses on Lehmann’s teaching methods is informative. And throughout the book we’re treated to Lehmann’s humor and insight. An accompanying CD of actual lessons or masterclasses might have added immediacy and authenticity to the book, but I can imagine that would add too much cost. Here’s the publisher’s description: Kathy H. Brown focuses on the nature and content of the teaching of soprano Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976)–with an emphasis on interpretation of the text–after her immigration to the United States. Advice culled from the transcripts of voice lessons and master classes as well as from questionnaire from students is provided for two-hundred-twenty-three art songs by twenty-six composers and twenty-five arias by twelve composers. This is preceded by summaries of Lehmann’s careers in the opera house and on the recital stage in Europe and America. The volume is illustrated with fifty black-and-white photographs and the black-and-white reproduction of thirty-eight paintings by Lehmann herself in response to specific lieder by Schubert and Schumann.
Biographical References
Covering 1935-1970 in alphabetical order; assembled by Sherman Zelinsky
Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, New York: G. Schirmer, 1959, p. 931.
Eustis, Morton, Players at Work: Acting According to the Actors, New York: Theatre Arts, Inc., 1937, p. 118-27.
Eustis, Morton Corcoran, Players at Work: Acting According to the Actors, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1967. (reprint of 1937 edition)
Ewen, David, Living Musicians, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1940, p. 212-214.
Ewen, David, Living Musicians: First Supplement, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1957, p . 98.
Ewen, David, Men and Women Who Make Music, New York: Readers Press, 19, p. 135-48.
Haggin, B. H., Music in the Nation, New York: Sloane, 1949, p. 65-6, 134, 227-29.
Kaufmann, Mrs. H. (Loeb) and Hansl, Mrs. Eva Elise (vom Baur), Artists in Music of Today, New York: Grosset, 1941, p. 67.
“Lotte Lehmann,” Current Biography, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1941, p. 504-6.
“Lotte Lehmann,” Current Biography, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1970, p. 250-3.
“Lotte Lehmann,” Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., New York St. Martin’s Press, 1959, v. 5, p. 116.
“Lotte Lehmann,” International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1964.
“Lotte Lehmann,” Who’s Who in America (v. 36), Chicago: Marquis Who’s Who, Inc., 1970-1971.
Book Reviews
Covering 1935-1970 assembled by Sherman Zelinsky
Bell, Lisle, “Eternal Flight,” Books, p. 37, November 14, 1937.
Ericson, Raymond, “Five Operas and Richard Strauss,” New York Times Book Review, p. 22, October 11, 1964.
Erskine, John, “Midway in My Song,” Books, p. 4, September, 1938.
“Eternal Flight,” Boston Transcript, p. 4, November 20, 1937.
“Midway in My Song,” Booklist, 35:47, October 1, 1938.
“Midway in My Song,” Christian Science Monitor, p. 11, October 12, 1938.
“Midway in My Song,” Cleveland Open Shelf, p. 17, November, 1938.
“Midway in My Song,” New York Times, p. 5, September 18, 1938.
“Midway ln My Song,” New Yorker, 14 : 96, September 17, 1938.
“Midway in My Song,” Wisconsin Library Bulletin, 34:179, November, 1938.
Miller, C. K., “Five Operas and Richard Strauss,” Library Journal, 89: 3317, September 15, 1964.
Miller, C. K., “My Many Lives,” Library Journal, 76 :653, April 15, 1948.
Miller, P. L., “My Many Lives,” Music Library Association Notes, 5: 373, June, 1948.
“More Than Singing,” Cleveland Open Shelf, p. 7, March, 1946.
“More Than Singing,” Theatre Arts, 30: 125, February, 1946.
“More Than Singing,” Wisconsin Library Bulletin, 42 : 58, April, 1946 .
“My Many Lives,” Booklist: 44: 311, May 15, 1948.
“My Many Lives,” Cleveland Open Shelf, p. 23, December, 1948.
“My Many Lives,” New York Times, p. 11, June 27, 1948.
Pettis, Ashley, “More Than Singing,” Saturday Review of Literature, 29 : 25, January 26, 1946
Powell, Anthony, “Wings of Song,” Spectator, 160 : 976, May 27, 1938.
Shawe-Taylor, Desmond, “Wings of Song,” New Statesman and Nation, 15 : 1079, June 25, 1938.
Sheean, Vincent, “More Than Singing,” Weekly Book Review, p. 8, February 17, 1946.
Simon, Robert, “Midway in My Song,” Saturday Review of Literature, 18:19, October 1, 1938.
Sloper, L. A., “More Than Singing,” Christian Science Monitor, p. 17, January 12, 1946.
Veinus, Abraham, “My Many Lives,” Saturday Review of Literature, 31: l0, July 24, 1948.
Wallace, Margaret, “Eternal Flight,” New York Times, p. 30, November 14, 1937.
“Wings of Song,” Manchester Guardian, p. 7, June 3, 1938.
“Wings of Song,” Times (London) Literary Supplement, p. 318, May 7, 1936.
Magazine Articles Covering 1935-1970 assembled by Sherman Zelinsky
I. Titled Articles II. Untitled Articles
I. Titled Articles
“Ave Atque Vale,” Newsweek, 37 :50, February 26, 1951.
“Bids Farewell to Career as Concert Artist,” (with editorial comment), Musical America, 71 : 3+, March 14, 1951.
Bowen, G. “Happy Birthday to a Great Lady of Song,” American Record Guide, 29 : 424-5, February, 1963.
Breuer, Gustl, “To Lotte, with Love,” Opera News, 32 : 6, February 24, 1968.
Comfort, A., ed. “Teaching the Singer to Become an Interpretive Artist,” Etude, 64 : 744, February, 1946.
“Dowager of Song,” Time, 47 : 55, January 28, 1946.
“Exit Crying,” Life, 30 : 72+, March 5, 1951.
Gelatt, Roland, “Birthday Tribute to Lotte Lehmann That Lets the Radiance Shine Through,” High Fidelity, 18 : 63-4, June, 1968.
Graves, N. R., “More Than Teaching,” Etude, 73 : 13+, November, 1955.
Green, London: “Welitsch’s Salome, Lehmann’s Marschallin, Pauly’s Elektra,” The Opera Quarterly, 15(1999)3, S.401 – 414 : Ill.
“Great Lady, Great Marschallin,” Newsweek, 25 : 88, March 5, 1945.
Haggin, B. H., “Records,” Nation, 174 : 162, February 16, 1952.
Haggin, B. H., “What an Artist!” Nation, 160 : 498, April 28, 1945.
Heylbut, R. (interview), “Let Nothing Discourage You,” Etude, 53 : 701-2, December, 1935.
“It Is Time,” Time, 57 : 75, February 26, 1951.
“Joy of Singing at Home,” House Beautiful, 103 : 142+, October, 1961.
Kolodin, Irving, “Lehmann and the Lieder Season,” Saturday Review of Literature, 33 : 26, February 4, 1950.
Kolodin, Irving, “Lehmann’s Farewell,” Saturday Review of Literature, 34 : 35, March 3, 1951.
“Lady of Song,” Newsweek, 35 : 78, February 27, 1950.
Lehmann, Lotte, “Bruno Walter,” Theatre Arts, 26 : 50-4, January, 1942.
Lehmann, Lotte, “Bruno Walter; September 15, 1876- February 17, 1962, ” Opera News, 26 : 14-15, March 24, 1962.
“Lehmann Idyll,” Newsweek, 33 : 86, March 7, 1949.
“Lehmann, 1936 Tosca, Gets a Hand from an Older Tosca,” Newsweek, 7 : 30, February 8, 1936.
Lingg, A. M., ed. “Three Lives in Vienna,” Opera News, 27: 25-7, December 22, 1962.
“Lotte Lehmann Gets Curtain Calls,” Newsweek, 5 : 27, January 12, 1935.
Luten, C. J., “Records,” Opera News, 33 : 30, November 23, 1968.
Miller, P. L., “Birthday Greeting to Lotte Lehmann,” American Record Guide, 34 : 934-5, June, 1968.
“More,” Time, 55 : 62, February 27, 1950.
“Overcoming a Musical Crisis,” (Excerpt from Midway in My Song), Etude, 56 : 789+, December, 1938.
Portrait as Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Theatre Arts, 25 : 722, October, 1941.
“Prima Donnas,” Time, 32 : 24, October 31, 1938.
Recitals, Town Hall, Musical America, 69 : 18, 28, March, 1949.
“Recorded Farewell,” Newsweek, 38 : 94, December 17, 1951.
“Salzburg Summer,” Arts and Decoration, 48 : 16-18, April, 1938.
Sheean, Vincent, “Lehmann Story,” Commonweal, 46 : 57-60, May 2, 1947.
“Singing Actress Attacks Her Part,” Theatre Arts Monthly, 21 : 285-292, April, 1937.
Smith, C., “Singers of Songs,” Theatre Arts, 31 : 37-40, April, 1947.
“They Stand Out from the Crowd,” Literary Digest, 117 : 9, January 20, 1934.
Watt, D., “Musical Events,” New Yorker, 27 : 102, March 3, 1951.
“Where Are They Now?” Newsweek, 49 : 16, February 4, 1957.
II. Untitled Articles
Arts and Decoration, 45 : 27, January, 1937.
Arts and Decoration, 47 : 15, December 1937.
Christian Science Monitor Weekly Magazine Section, p. 11, October 12, 1938.
Etude, 59 : 516, August, 1941.
Etude, 61 : 86, February, 1943.
Etude, 63 : 71, February, 1945.
Literary Digest, 117 : 24, February 17, 1934.
Musical America, 72 : 29, January 15, 1952.
Musical America, 76 :1 3, February 1, 1956.
Newsweek, 8 : 27, October 17, 1936.
Saturday Review of Literature, 34 : 70, November 24, 1951.
School Arts, 45 : 328, June, 1946.
Time, 30 : 37, July 26, 1937.
Time, 91 : 42, March 8, 1968.
Time, 96 : 28, July 27, 1970.
Lehmann in Other Books
Some of the books are still in print, others you will have to find in second hand bookstores, mail order book lists, or from book “search” services on the internet.
Bloomfield, Arthur (1978), The San Francisco Opera, Comstock Editions, Sausailto, California. This paperback book traces the history of the opera company from 1922-1978 with many LL references and quotations from contemporary critics: “Lehmann, of course, was the Sieglinde of all time, tremendously warm and, in her harrowing second act scene, chillingly intense.”
Busch, Max W. and Dannenberg, Peter (Editors), Die Hamburgische Staatsoper, M&T Verlag AG, Zurich. In German. This handsome book, with many color, as well as black and white photos, devotes an important chapter to LL written by Busch. Many unfamiliar photos and precise information on roles and salaries make this an interesting look at Lehmann’s first engagement. (She earned 15,000 Marks in her [final] 1915/16 season there.)
Blyth, Alan (editor), (1986), Song on record: I Lieder, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Many expert critics (David Hamilton, John Steane, Will Crutchfield, etc.) write separate chapters (by composer). They have listened closely and provide insight into the styles, techniques and expressive qualities of the singers and pianists that they review. Lehmann comes in for extravagant praise, John Steane, here speaking of her recordings of Wagner’s Schmerzen and Träume: “Of course in both performances Lehmann communicates an intense affection, perhaps more warmly than any other singer. Beginning with the utmost tenderness, she catches the yearning feeling in the dotted-note phrases, and then breathes a glowing warmth of spirit into the exclamations, ‘Alvergessen, Eingedenken!’.”
Christiansen, Rupert (1984), Prima Donna, Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. Also available in hardback from Viking, this history devotes considerable space to LL in a chapter entitled: “Strauss and the Prima Donna in Vienna”. Christiansen writes of LL “Her recordings are still extraordinarily vivid documents which communicate something of what everyone who witnessed her recalls as a radiant exultant intensity. There was no posing, no faking, no imposition of false effect…”
Crichton, Kyle (1939), Subway to the Met: Risë Steven’s Story, Doubleday & Company, Farden City, New York. The great mezzo told her story to the author, and LL comes in for a few mentions: “Opera buffs still cherish individual Lehmann performances as jewels of perfection. There was never a cheap or tawdry or careless Lehmann appearance. There were great performances that are still spoken of with reverence by opera lovers.”
Davenport, Marcia (1967), Too Strong for Fantasy, Chas Scribner’s Sons, New York. A personal memoir by Davenport who counts LL as one of the best singers she ever heard as well as a personal friend. LL is frankly described as a person, and her impact as a singing actress in the role of Sieglinde evokes the following: “No voice had ever hit me in that way… the voice, the artist, the personality were all of a piece… She was both feminine humanity and total dramatic illusion… ”
Davenport, Marcia (1936), Of Lena Geyer, Grosser & Dunlap, by arrangement with Chas Scribner’s Sons, New York. A novel inspired by LL’s performance as Fidelio. A well-written novel, it doesn’t pretend to follow LL’s life, but is modeled on such dedicated artists as Lehmann represented to Davenport. “I could see myself… in the balcony at the opera house, and feeling, so acutely that the sensation has never diminished, the first glorious impact of that unforgettable sound.”
Hall, David (1978), The Record Book: a Guide to the World of the Phonograph, Greenwood Press, Westport Conn. This book provides information about the whole field of recorded sound, so naturally Lehmann can only be briefly sited: “Lotte Lehmann has well deserved her reputation as one of the great vocal artists of our time; for every work she sings she brings a warm understanding and humanity that makes us overlook occasional weaknesses such as lapses of intonation, too pronounced aspiration, or a strained delivery of a high passage.” He mentions the famous Rosenkavalier and Walküre recordings.
Hirschmann, Ira (1994), Obligato, Fromm International Publishing Corporation, New York. His strong impressions of Lehmann, expecially her performance of Winterreise.
Horne, Marilyn with Jane Scovell (1984), Marylin Horne, My Life, Atheneum, New York. Probably the most readable singer’s autobiography that I’ve ever encountered and LL has a whole chapter to herself, as Horne appeared in master classes at the Music Academy of the West. LL comes in for a mixture of praise and condemnation. (See “An Archivist Checks History” elsewhere in the Newsletter portion of this Website,) “Fair is fair, though. If I tell you of Lehmann’s dark side, then I must also tell you that she opened the doors of singing Lieder for me. Her instruction is inextricably woven into my own interpretations. As exponent and teacher, she was incomparable and inspirational.”
Jackson, Paul (1976), Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met: The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, 1931-1950, Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon. There are many references to Lehmann’s style of singing, quite aside from the meticulous attention to her singing as heard in the (then) surviving off-the-air recordings. Jackson is a careful listener and mixes praise with criticism when needed. And of course, there is much to be enjoyed that has nothing to do with Lehmann.
Moran, William (Ed) (1990), Herman Klein and the Gramophone, Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon. Moran provides a biography and edits Klein’s essays, reviews and other writings from the Gramophone magazine. LL comes in for frequent, if brief, notice. Here in reference to her Desdemona: “–and I have heard nearly all of them—the performance of Lotte Lehmann will remain a fragrant and delicious memory…. It was in that most difficult scene of all, the elaborate ensemble that follows after the Moor has struck Desdemona before his whole court—it was in this trying episode that Lotte Lehmann did so magnificently both as singer and actress, that she rose to heights never attained here before, at least in my experience.”
Preven, André (1991), No Minor Chords, Doubleday, New York. In a brief mention, Previn discusses Lehmann’s role in the MGM movie Big City. He was a young pianist on the set at the time.
Rasponi, Lanfranco (1982), The Last Prima Donnas, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Many interviews with great singers including one with LL from 1936, where he quotes LL “‘Inaccuracy in the notes here and there—that they can accuse me of; but of betraying the text, never. I have given of my voice with no restraint, and I am fully aware that this has to be paid for dearly. But I cannot restrain myself, for I become tremendously involved with a characterization or a song, and the reason for my success has always been that the public knows I am handing it all I have.”‘ The chapter devoted to LL is mainly comprised of the interview, but includes Rasponi’s own remarks and summary of her impact after her death: “Will we ever again hear Leonore’s declaration in the second-act trio sung so expressively, a mixture of terror and faith? There have been many more perfect singers, but few have been more intense and honest than Lotte Lehmann.”
Seebohm, Andrea (Ed. and contributor), (1987), The Vienna Opera, Rizzoli, New York. Also available in German: Die Wiener Oper: 350 Jahre Glanz und Tradition. This is a beautiful book, with many color, as well as black and white photos; Lehmann appears in photos and ensemble lists, but little text. But Egon Seefehlner does write “I am not embarrassed to say that Lehmann could move me to tears when she began to sing….Lehmann (was) a great musician who was a triumphant success both on the stage and in the concert hall… ”
Vincent, Sheean (1957), First and Last Love, Victor Gollancz Ltd., London. This very personal memoir was dedicated to Mme. Lehmann and has many enthusiastically positive appraisals of her and her work. At one point he writes that Toscanini declared to Lehmann “… at the end of a difficult passage in rehearsal ‘You are the greatest artist in the world.'” Sheean continues: “Well, she was…every note of her voice conveyed the meaning of the part. Her speaking voice (in Beethoven’s Fidelio)…had a tenderness…which extended the beauty of the music even to that part of the drama which is now…so often omitted.”
Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth (1982), On and Off the Record, A Memoir of Walter Legge, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. Legge was a visionary record producer and husband/manager of Schwarzkopf who writes about him and quotes him extensively. Lehmann has a chapter to herself: “Her impact was, is, and, through her best records, will remain irresistible and engulfing. Lotte sang and acted as if she were inviting, urging every member of her audiences to enjoy her generous heart and her very self.”
Steber, Eleanor, Eleanor Steber: An Autobiography. Both colleague and student of Lehmann, Steber recalls many Lehmann performances that moved her and reprints a letter from Lehmann in which the balance between the music and poetry in a song is discussed.
Walter, Bruno (1946), Theme and Variarlons, An Autobiography, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. (In German: Thema und Variationen: Erinnerungen und Gedanken, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988) An immensely readable book. Walter has cause to mention LL several times. Once regarding LL’s first appearance with him in a Covent Garden performance early in her career: “… as for Lotte Lehmann’s work as the Marschallin, it was even then surrounded by the brilliance which has made her portrayal of that part one of the outstanding achievements on the contemporary operatic stage. Here, indeed, was that rare phenomenon of an artist’s personality becoming wholly merged with a poetic figure, and of a transitory theatrical event being turned into an unforgettable experience.”