Lehmann, Lotte

(b Perleberg, 27 Feb 1888; d Santa Barbara, CA, 26 Aug 1976). German soprano, active in England and the USA. She studied in Berlin, and began her career in 1910 with the Hamburg Opera. In 1916 she moved to Vienna, scoring an instant success as the Composer in the newly revised version of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos; she was later to be his first Dyer's Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919, Vienna) and Christine in Intermezzo (1924, Dresden). She remained in Vienna until 1938, when political events drove her from Austria. During her long Viennese career she sang a wide range of French and Italian roles (Puccini specially esteemed her Suor Angelica), as well as the German repertory with which she became most closely associated. From 1924 she was a great favourite at Covent Garden, returning almost every year until 1938, by which time she had also established herself in the USA, where she became a naturalized citizen.

Internationally, Lehmann's most famous roles were Beethoven's Leonore, and Wagner's Elisabeth, Elsa, Eva and above all Sieglinde. But the part with which she became increasingly identified was that of Strauss's Marschallin -- a portrayal of which Richard Capell wrote: 'The lyric stage of the time knew no performance more admirably accomplished; it seemed to embody a civilization, the pride and elegance of old Vienna, its voluptuousness, chastened by good manners, its doomed beauty'. Over her long and fruitful career Lehmann developed and refined her lieder style, and her recitals, which continued until 1951, won her a following no less devoted than her operatic public. Her many recordings, most of which have been transferred successfully to CD, convey a vivid impression of her warm, generous voice and urgent, impulsive style. She wrote a volume of autobiography, Anfang und Aufstieg, published in Vienna in 1937 (as Wings of Song, London, 1938), and several studies in interpretation. After retirement she taught at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, and gave masterclasses.
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
B. Glass: Lotte Lehmann: a Life in Opera and Song (Santa Barbara, CA, 1988) [with discography by G. Hickling]
A. Jefferson: Lotte Lehmann 1888--1976 (London, 1988) [with discography by F. Juynboll]
 

DESMOND SHAWE-TAYLOR/R