Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Chronological Biography
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Indexing Terms
Material Cataloged Separately
Related Collections
Descriptive Summary
Title: Lotte Lehmann Collection.,
Date (inclusive): 1880s-1976
Date (bulk): 1920s-1976
Collection number: PA Mss 02
Creator:
Lotte Lehmann.
Extent:
approx 150 linear ft.
4 reels microfilm
10 films
14 videotapes
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library.
Dept. of Special Collections
Abstract: The Lehmann Collection contains letters, scrapbooks, manuscripts, photographs, video cassettes, art works, and sound recordings
relating to the life and career of Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976), the internationally famous soprano famous for her interpretations
of Fidelio, Der Rosenkavalier and German lieder who spent the last thirty-six years of her life in Santa Barbara.
Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials,
please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Use of the collection is unrestricted.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Preferred Citation
Lotte Lehmann collection., PA Mss 02, Department of Special Collections, University Libraries, University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Lehmann donated much of the material in the collection; most of the rest has come from Dr. Frances Holden, who was Lehmann's
executor. Portions of it have been purchased, and some items have been donated by others.
Biography
Lotte Lehmann was born Charlotte Sophie Pauline Lehmann on February 27, 1888, in Perleberg, Germany. Lehmann's operatic career
began in Hamburg in 1910 and she made her Vienna debut in 1916. Her best-known role in Europe was the title role in Fidelio;
she became internationally famous for her portrayal of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Rosenkavalier (she sang all three
of the major female roles in that opera, and worked closely with Strauss for a number of years). She made her American debut
in Chicago in 1932. Lehmann left Europe to make her home in the U.S. in 1938, after the Anschluss; she lived first in New
York and then in Santa Barbara. By 1937, Lehmann described herself as "a concert singer who sometimes sings opera"; she sang
her last opera in 1946, but continued to give concerts until 1951. From 1951 until 1961, and occasionally after that, she
taught master classes in interpretation at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, in Pasadena, at Northwestern University,
and at Wigmore Hall in London. In addition to a novel and two volumes of poems, she published two autobiographies, Midway
in My Song (1938; Anfang und Aufsteig in Germany and Wings of Song in Great Britain) and My Many Lives (1948), and two books
about interpretation, More Than Singing (1945; revised and published in 1971 as Eighteen Song Cycles) and Five Operas and
Richard Strauss (1964; Singing with Richard Strauss in Great Britain).
In 1926, Lehmann married Otto Krause, an insurance executive with whom she had fallen in love four years earlier when his
wealthy wife had engaged Lehmann to sing at his birthday party. Lehmann and Krause did not have children, but Krause and his
first wife had had four. When their mother died in 1936, the youngest was 17 and the oldest was 21. In the spring of 1938,
Lehmann succeeded in getting them out of Austria, and from then on helped to support them in the United States.
Krause died in January 1939 at Saranac Lake, where he had been at the famous sanitorium for over two years. During the time
of Krause's stay at Saranac, Lehmann had two close companions, Viola Westervelt Douglas and Frances Holden. After Krause's
death, Holden and Lehmann continued to live together in New York and Santa Barbara until Lehmann died in 1976.
The conductors, composers, and singers Lehmann worked with included Franz Schalk, Arturo Toscanini, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm
Furtwangler, Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, Maria Jeritza, Richard Mayr, Alfred Piccaver, Lauritz Melchior,
Elisabeth Schumann, and Richard Tauber. Among her pupils were Jeannine Altmeyer, Grace Bumbry, Kay Griffel, Marilyn Horne,
and Benita Valente.
Chronological Biography
1888 |
February, born in Perleberg in Brandenburg |
1902 |
Family moves to Berlin |
1905 |
Beginning of her education as a singer in the Imperial High School for Music in Berlin |
1910 |
First engagement at the City Theater of Hamburg in the role of the second youth in "The Magic Flute" |
1916 |
Engagement at the Vienna State Opera, lasting until 1938 |
1926 |
Debut at the Covent Garden Opera, London, as Marschallin |
1930 |
First Tour in America |
1934 |
Debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as Sieglinde |
1938 |
Final move to America (New York) |
1939 |
Husband, Otto Krause, dies on January 22, Lake Saranac, New York |
1940 |
Moves to Santa Barbara, California |
1946 |
Leaves the Opera stage: as Marschallin at the Metropolitan Opera, New York |
1951 |
On February 16 makes final appearance as a concert singer in a concert at Town Hall, New York |
1963 |
On April 27 brother dies in Santa Barbara |
1969 |
Takes part in the ceremonies celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Vienna State Opera and visits
the Salzburg Festival
|
1976 |
Died quietly at her home, August 26 |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
The Lehmann collection consists of the following series: I. Correspondence; II. Manuscripts; III. Photographs; IV. Scrapbooks;
V. Clippings; VI. Programs; VII. Sound recordings; VIII. Moving Images; IX. Scores; X Art work.
Series I, Correspondence, includes Letters and telegrams to and from her husband, Otto Krause; her early benefactors, the
Putlitzes; her accompanists and fellow singers; and friends and acquaintances.
Series II, Manuscripts, includes typescripts, proofsheets of Lehmann's books; drafts and final copies of her articles and
talks.
Series III, Photographs, includes Lehmann in many of her opera roles, publicity photographs, and many candid shots taken at
her Santa Barbara home; photographs of many friends, acquaintances, and celebrities, some inscribed to her.
Series IV, Scrapbooks, (1904-1968) consists of 38 scrapbooks which include clippings, correspondence programs and some photos.
Series V, Clippings, including reviews of her concerts and articles on Lehmann.
Series VI, Programs, are programs from concert she performed in.
Series VII, Sound Recordings, are unique recordings of performances and master classes.
Series VIII, Motions pictures include films and videos of Lehmann, including home movies, master classes, and television programs.
Series IX, Scores, are musical scores, many annotated by Lehmann
Series X Artwork, includes the hundreds of oil paintings, drawings, tiles, glass mosaics, sculptures, and felt appliqués done
by Lehmann.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Singers--California--Santa Barbara.
Singers--Archives.
Sopranos (Singers)
Photographs.
Scrapbooks.
Sound recordings.
Home movies.
Strauss, Richard, 1864-1949.
Toscanini, Arturo, 1867-1957.
Walter, Bruno, 1876-1962.
Holden, Frances.
Music Academy of the West.
Material Cataloged Separately
Lehmann's commercial sound records (78s and LPs) and her published books are cataloged in Pegasus, the UCSB Online catalog.
Related Collections
Other collections containing significant material on Lehmann include the Lotte Lehmann photo collection, 1926-1960s (PA Mss
34) which contains photographs from European archives and the records of the Lotte Lehmann Centennial Celebration, housed
in University Archives.