Lilli Lehmann

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Lilli Lehmann was German soprano of phenomenal versatility. Across the span of her career, she performed 170 different parts in a total of 119 German, Italian and French operas as well as 600 lieder (songs). She left her legacy as a singer in recordings made later in her life as well as her book on vocal study: Meine Gesangskunst (1902; My Art of Singing).

Лилли Леман (Lilli Lehmann) | Classic-music.ru
(1848 - 1929)
Image source

Listen to a recording of Lilli Lehmann singing Verdi, aged circa 58:

Her first singing teacher was her mother, who had been a prima donna at the Cassel opera. After singing small parts on stage, Lehmann made her proper debut in 1870 (aged circa 22) in Berlin. She sang in the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. The Bayreuth Festival Theatre is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, built by the composer Richard Wagner and dedicated solely to the performance of his stage works. Lehmann was coached by Wagner in the parts of one of the Rhinemaidens and the Forest Bird for the first performances of his cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. She subsequently became so successful that she was appointed an Imperial Chamber Singer for life in 1876. 

Listen to her singing Wagner here:

She performed in London in 1884 and appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1885-1899, helping to popularise Wagner's music in America. She remained in America beyond the leave she was granted by the Berlin Opera - she therefore faced a ban following her return to Germany. The emperor intervened personally and the ban was lifted. In 1905, she sang at the Salzburg Festival, of which she later became the artistic director. 

As a renowned voice teacher, Lehmann founded the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1916. The academy's curriculum concentrated on voice lessons at first but it was extended later to include a wide variety of musical instruction. 

Listen to Lehmann sing Mozart: 

This blog is intended to be educational and to share knowledge about music. Daily Hit of Music does not claim to own anything contained in this post and declares its sources openly. 
The following sources were used for this blog post: Mahler Foundation, Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Image sources can be found in the image captions. 
Recordings can be found on YouTube by clicking the 'DHM YouTube Playlist' links.

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