Charlotte "Lotte" Pauline Sophie Lehmann was born on February 27, 1888, and died on August 26, 1976. She was a German-American dramatic soprano known for her successful performances at famous opera houses worldwide, on the recital stage, and in teaching. She performed in operas by composers such as Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart, and Massenet. Her most famous roles included the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, and the title character in Fidelio. Throughout her career, she made nearly 500 recordings of opera and art songs.

Life and career

Lehmann was born in Perleberg, a town of moderate size located halfway between Hamburg and Berlin in the Brandenburg Province of Germany. She tried studying at two music schools in Berlin, where her family had moved, but did not succeed. Later, she met Mathilde Mallinger, who was the first person to play the role of Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger. Within one and a half years, Mallinger helped improve Lehmann’s singing ability enough for her to audition and earn a contract with the Hamburg Opera in 1910. At first, she sang small parts such as pages. By her third year in Hamburg, she performed more important roles, such as Agathe in Der Freischütz and Micaëla in Carmen. Her first major success came when the soprano who was scheduled to sing Elsa in Lohengrin was unavailable. Lehmann took the role and was coached by Otto Klemperer, a young assistant conductor at the Hamburg Opera. After this, she performed larger roles, including Irene in Rienzi, Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung. In 1913, Hans Gregor, the director of the Vienna Court Opera, visited Hamburg to hear a tenor but noticed Lehmann as Micaëla and offered her a contract.

Lehmann began her career in Vienna with a trial performance in 1914 as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Vienna Court Opera, which later became the Vienna State Opera. She joined the company in 1916 and quickly became one of its most celebrated singers, performing roles such as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Elsa in Lohengrin. She created roles in the world premieres of several operas by Richard Strauss, including the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos (1916), the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919), and Christine in Intermezzo (1924). She also performed the title roles in Arabella (1933) and Der Rosenkavalier. Earlier in her career, she sang Sophie and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and when she later added the role of the Marschallin, she became the first soprano in history to perform all three leading female roles in that opera.

At the Vienna State Opera, Lehmann performed the title roles in Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Suor Angelica, Turandot, and Mimi in La bohème, as well as Giorgetta in Il tabarro. During her 21 years with the company, she sang more than fifty different roles, including Marie/Marietta in Die tote Stadt by Korngold, the title roles in La Juive by Fromental Halévy, Mignon by Ambroise Thomas, and Manon by Jules Massenet, and roles such as Charlotte in Werther, Marguerite in Faust, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, and Lisa in The Queen of Spades.

In 1914, she made her debut in London. She later toured South America in 1922 and performed regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1924 to 1935. There, she sang her famous Wagner roles and the Marschallin, as well as Desdemona in Otello and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. She performed regularly at the Salzburg Festival from 1926 to 1937, working with conductors such as Arturo Toscanini. She also gave recitals there, accompanied at the piano by Bruno Walter.

In August 1936, while in Salzburg, she discovered the Trapp Family Singers, who later became famous in The Sound of Music. She heard the family singing in their garden and encouraged them to participate in a festival contest. Although the family’s aristocratic background made them hesitant to perform publicly, Lehmann’s fame and enthusiasm persuaded them to agree.

Lehmann made her American debut in 1930 in Chicago as Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre. She returned to the United States each season and made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Sieglinde in 1934. Before Germany annexed Austria in 1938, she moved to the United States. There, she continued to perform at the Metropolitan Opera until 1945 and the San Francisco Opera until 1946.

In addition to her operatic work, Lehmann was a well-known singer of lieder (German art songs), giving frequent recitals throughout her career. She recorded and toured with pianist Ernő Balogh in the 1930s. Beginning in 1937, she worked closely with accompanist Paul Ulanowsky, who remained her primary accompanist for concerts and master classes until her retirement in 1951.

Lehmann also acted in films, including a role as the mother of Danny Thomas in Big City (1948), which also starred Robert Preston, George Murphy, Margaret O’Brien, and Betty Garrett.

After retiring from the recital stage in 1951, Lehmann taught master classes at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito, California, which she helped found in 1947. She also taught in New York City’s Town Hall (for the Manhattan School of Music), Chicago, London, Vienna, and other cities. Some of her most successful students included Jeannine Altmeyer, Judith Beckmann, Grace Bumbry, William Cochran,

Personal life

In 1926, Lehmann married Otto Krause, who had previously served as an officer in the Austrian army. They did not have any children together. Krause, who passed away from tuberculosis in 1939, had four children from a prior marriage. Lehmann did not marry anyone else after Krause's death.

From 1939 until her own death in 1976, Lehmann lived with Frances Holden (1899–1996), a psychologist who focused on the study of genius, especially the genius of classical musicians. The two women named their home in Santa Barbara "Orplid," after a dream island mentioned in Hugo Wolf's art song "Gesang Weylas."

Lehmann had a long letter exchange with Dorothy B. Waage, a numismatist.

Legacy

• Lehmann helped set up the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where a hall is named after her.
• The Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, was also named in her honor. She taught many master classes there.
• The Lotte Lehmann Collection at the UCSB Library's Special Collections includes her recordings, papers, photos, and other items.
• A collection of manuscripts, photos, and recordings called the Gary Hickling Collection on Lotte Lehmann is kept at the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford University.
• Most of Lehmann's private recordings are stored at the Miller Nichols Library Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
• Her friend Hertha Schuch left a large collection (now in 18 boxes) of Lehmann's recordings, letters, photos, and other items to the Austrian Theatre Museum in Vienna (Österreichisches Theatermuseum, Wien).
• The Lotte Lehmann Foundation was created in 1995 to protect and continue Lehmann's legacy while sharing art song with more people. It stopped operating in 2011. In 2011, the Lotte Lehmann League created a website to honor her.
• In her hometown of Perleberg, the Lotte Lehmann Akademie was started in 2009. This summer program helps young opera singers study the German repertoire. The academy's teachers have included Karan Armstrong and Thomas Moser, who were both former students of Lehmann.

Honors

• In 1926, Lehmann was given the title of Kammersängerin, which was the first time this honor had been awarded since the end of the monarchy.
• In 1928, Lehmann became an Honorary Member of the Vienna State Opera.
• In February 1929, the King of Sweden presented her with the golden medal Literis et Artibus after she performed in Fidelio.
• In 1931, France honored her with the Légion d’honneur (“Offizier der Ehrenlegion”).
• In 1962, the City of Vienna gave her the Honor or Dedication Ring of the City of Vienna (Ehrenring der Stadt Wien).
• On February 8, 1964, Germany awarded her the Great German Service Cross (Großes Deutsches Verdienstkreuz).
• In 1969, Salzburg presented her with the Great Silver Medal of the City of Salzburg (Große Silbermedaille der Stadt Salzburg).

Works

• Eighteen Song Cycles: Studies in Their Interpretation (Published by Cassell, London, 1971)
• Eternal Flight, translated by Elsa Krauch (Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1937)
• Five Operas and Richard Strauss (Published by Macmillan Co., New York, 1964)
• Midway in My Song: The Autobiography of Lotte Lehmann (Published by Bobbs-Merrill Company, New York, 1938)
• More Than Singing: The Interpretation of Songs (Published by Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1945)
• My Many Lives (Published by Boosey & Hawkes, New York, 1948)

Recordings

• Notable Recordings from the 20th Century: EMI: CDH 7610422: Lotte Lehmann: Operatic Arias
• Outstanding Opera Recordings: NAXOS: 8.110250-51: Die Walküre: Acts I & II
• Immortal Performances: NAXOS: 8.110034-36: Der Rosenkavalier (recorded live in 1939)
• Outstanding Opera Recordings: NAXOS: 8.110191-92: Der Rosenkavalier (1933)
• Celebrated Singers: NAXOS: 8.11244: Lotte Lehmann: Lieder Recordings, Vol. 3
• Masterpieces Collection: Sony Music: MPK 47682: Lotte Lehmann: Songs from Vienna
• Masterpieces Collection: CBS: MPK 44840: Lotte Lehmann/Bruno Walter: Schumann: Frauenliebe und -Leben, Dichterliebe