Lilli Lehmann
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 ). (1848 - 1929) Image source Listen to a recording of Lilli Lehmann singing Verdi, aged circa 58: DHM YouTube 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 perf...