Lilli Lehmann (born Elisabeth Maria Lehmann, later Elisabeth Maria Lehmann-Kalisch; 24 November 1848 – 17 May 1929) was a German soprano who had an active performance career spanning from 1865 into the 1920s. One of the great sopranos of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, music critics hailed her as a peer to other celebrated singers of that era such as Jenny Lind and Adelina Patti. Her father was heldentenor Karl August Lehmann, and her mother was the soprano and harpist Maria Theresia Löw (1809–1885). Maria portrayed heroines in several operas by Louis Spohr while a leading soprano in Kassel. Her younger sister, Marie Lehmann, also went on to become an operatic soprano. Her parents separated in 1853, and she lived with her mother and siblings in Prague. There her mother gave her voice lessons and other training in music. She began studies in piano at the age of six.

Lehmann made her professional opera debut on October 20, 1865 portraying the First Boy in The Magic Flute at the Deutschen Landestheater in Prague. Soon after she took over the role of Pamina in that opera; replacing a singer who became ill during the first act at the last minute. 'In her early career she sang smaller supporting roles first and then progressed into performing lead light soprano roles. Over time she slowly developed into a dramatic soprano. Her other roles in Prague included the First Lady in The Magic Flute, the Shepherd Boy in Tannhäuser (1866), and a bridesmaid in Der Freischütz (1866) among other lesser roles.

In 1868 Lehmann became a principal soprano at the . Her repertoire there included Zerline in Fra Diavolo, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Queen Marguerite de Valois in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Princess Eudoxie in La Juive, Marie in Der Waffenschmied, Marie in Zar und Zimmermann, Gilda in Rigoletto, both Donna Elvira and Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and the title role in Carlo Broschi. In 1869 she joined the roster of singers at the Leipzig Opera. In Leipzig she pursued further vocal training with Heinrich Laube. Her repertoire there included The Messenger of Peace in Rienzi, Marguerite de Valois, and the title roles in La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and Martha.

Berlin Hofoper and other work in Europe from 1869 to 1885

In 1869 Lehmann appeared as a guest artist for her debut at the Berlin Hofoper (BH) as Marguerite de Valois in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. She became a resident prima donna at that house a year later;

At the BH Lehmann starred in the world premiere of Bernhard Ludwig Hopffer's Frithjof on April 11, 1871. Other premieres she performed in at that theatre included Wilhelm Taubert's Caesario, oder Was ihr wollt (1874), Anton Rubinstein's Die Maccabäer (1875), and Johann Joseph Abert's Ekkehard (1878). Her other repertoire in Berlin included Agathe in Der Freischütz, Amazili in Jessonda, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Marie in La fille du régiment, Maria in Taubert's Cesario, Irma in Le maçon, the First Witch in Taubert's Macbeth, and many of the parts she had sung previously at other theaters.

In 1875 Lehmann met composer Richard Wagner at his home in Bayreuth where she performed for his excerpts from Das Rheingold. This began a long lasting friendship and artistic collaboration between the pair. Wagner also befriended Lehmann's mother and sister. In 1882 she made her debut at the Vienna State Opera, and returned there routinely as a guest artist through 1910.

Metropolitan Opera

thumb|left|Lehmann as Wagner's Isolde

In 1885 Lehmann broke her contract with the Berlin Hofoper in order to take a position as a leading soprano with the Metropolitan Opera ("Met") in New York City. She made her debut at the Met on November 25, 1885 in title role of Georges Bizet's Carmen.

Other roles Lehmann sang at the Met included Berthe in Le prophète, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Leonora in Il trovatore, Leonore in Fidelio, Marguerite in Faust, Philine in Mignon, Rachel in La Juive, Valentine in Les Huguenots, and the title role in Aida. Her last appearance at the Met before returning to Germany was as Sélika in L'Africaine on February 15, 1892. She later returned to the Met for one final season in 1898–1899 which included taking on the role of Fricka in Wagner's Das Rheingold Among her pupils were the famous sopranos Geraldine Farrar, In 1928 the Government of Austria bestowed upon her the title of professor on her 80th birthday in a ceremony presided over by Austria's president Michael Hainisch. Both singers were then under contract with the Metropolitan Opera. They were occasional stage partners at the Met with one such pairing being in Il trovatore in 1891 with Kalisch as Manrico and Lehmann as Leonora. Rupert Christiansen has described Lehmann as a "fanatic vegetarian and anti-vivisectionist, and nothing pleased her more in New York than the fact that the whipping of horses was forbidden." She also campaigned against the use of feathers from exotic birds in women's hats and costume, and after her operatic performances, she would offer her autograph to women who promised not to wear feathers in their hats.

Lehmann died of heart disease at the age of 80 on 7 May 1929 in Berlin.

Publications

  • Meine Gesangskunst. Berlin: 1902. 3rd edition, 1922.
  • How to Sing. New York: Macmillan, 1902. 3rd edition, 1924, republished: Mineola, New York: Dover, 1993. (English version of Meine Gesangskunst) Translation: Richard Aldrich.
  • L. Andro, Lilli Lehmann (Berlin: 1907)
  • Lilli Lehmann, Mein Weg. Autobiography. (Leipzig, 1913; English translation by Alice B. Seligman, My Path Through Life, New York: 1914)
  • "Mozartkurse", in: Mozarteums-Mitteilungen, vol. 1, Salzburg, 1918/19, pp. 6–9 (online)
  • "Die Salzburger Don Juan-Aufführungen im Jahre 1906", in: Mozarteums-Mitteilungen, vol. 3, Salzburg, 1920/21, pp. 15–25 (online)

References

Sources

  • Lilli Lehmann collection, 1865–1927 Library of Congress