LILLI Y LOTTE LEHMANN (1874-1974)

LILLI LEHMANN

Operatic soprano and lieder singer known especially for her performances as Wagner´s Isolde.

She made her debut in Prague in 1865 as the First Boy in Mozart´s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).

In 1870 she joined the Berlin Opera and was known as a coloratura singer in such roles as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte.

she was coached by Wagner in the parts of one of the Rhinemaidens and of the Forest Bird for the first Bayreuth performances of his cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen.

She later undertook dramatic soprano roles and became the greatest Isolde of her day.

She was equally outstanding in Beethoven´s Fidelio.

In 1885-89 and 1891-92 she sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Lilli was admired for her dramatic presence and fine voice and for her versatility: her repertory encompased 170 operatic roles from Wagner to Bellini to Offenbach and 600 lieder. She gave memorable lieder recitals and was notable Mozart singer being active from 1905 in the organization of the Salzburg Festivals.

She wrote an autobiography Mein Weg (1913, My Path Through Life) and Meine Gesangskunst (1902, How to Sing).


LOTTE LEHMANN

Lyric-dramatic soprano particularly renowned for her performances of the songs of Robert Schumann and in the roles of Leonore in Beethoven´s opera Fidelio and of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss´s Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose).

Lotte received her early training in Berlin and appeared in her first major operatic appearance in Hamburg as Freia in Wagner´s Das Rheingold in 1910.

She went to the Vienna State Opera in 1914 and became closely associated with pre-World War II Viennese culture; there Richard Strauss who later composed for her the title role in Arabella (1933) chose her for roles in several of his operas.

Lotte also appeared successfully on English stages from 1913 and in the U.S. from 1930.

At the Metropolitan Opera in new York she sang chiefly Wagnerian roles.

From 1938 she lived in the United States becoming a citizen and continuing an active career both as a leading performer (until her retirement in 1961) and teacher.

She is the author of a nocel Orplid, mein Land (1937, Eternal Flight) and three memoirs.

She was not related to the celebrated earlier soprano Lilli Lehmann.