100 Singers - LILLI LEHMANN
Lilli Lehmann, Soprano (1848-1929)
Mozart DON GIOVANNI Aria of Donna Anna (Recorded 1906)
Bellini NORMA Casta Diva (Recorded 1907)
Schubert DER ERLKÖNIG (Recorded 1906)
My personal opinion: I´m convinced it´s unnecessary to discuss singers, whose voice never was immortalized in adequate manner on records. The polish-french tenor Jean de Reszke (1850-1925) is a typical example: He made two cylinder-recordings, but the matrices appear to have been destroyed, when the tenor expressed his disappointment with the results. In April 1901, Lionel Mapleson made some primitive recordings during actual performances at the Met. Actually we don´t hear Jean de Reszke, we could only imagine his voice behind a curtain of thick noise. Or the legendary Adelina Patti (1843-1919): W. J. Henderson wrote, she was probably the most faultless deliver of tones that ever walked on stage and for Nellie Melba she was the most golden voice I´ve ever heard! These are nice descriptions, but when finally Patti was willing to accept a recording session, she was already 62 years old. We only have the enchanting echo of a distant past, but we can still imagine how great she once WAS (There are rumours of a 1895 private cylinder recording, but meanwhile we know it isn´t Patti, it´s Lucette Korsoff).
Lilli Lehmann was born only five years after Patti. The german soprano (1848-1929, not to be confused with Lotte Lehmann) was 56 when she made her first recordings, but her voice was in better condition than Patti´s, although we can hear age-related deficits as well: After more than fourty years singing on stage in 170 roles (!), her voice now was less resonant and stressed. But her singing still was expressive and leaves no doubt that she once was a dramatic soprano with a huge volume, great resonance and exuberant quality (Henderson). Michael Scott wrote, that with her willpower Lehmann became the leading Wagner-soprano in the world. She had the tone-production of a perfect singer. Her range was over three octaves, although in her dramatic repertoire she contended with the two-octave-scale between C and C, but she always reached the high F -- and sometimes she did it in practice. (Henderson). The splendid quality of her voice gave her the reputation to sing Mozart, Belcanto and Wagner. She was indeed a prima donna assoluta, perhaps technically the most accomplished singer of our knowledge. After singing some small parts, she came to Danzig (Gdansk) - the beginning of an exemplary career: In her first season she sang twenty-eight (!) roles (including Donna Elvira, Dinorah, Queen of the night, Rosina and Leonora), in Leipzig (1869/1870) she expanded her repertoire with twenty-two new roles. In 1869 she came to the Berlin Court Opera, first as a guest, later as the leading coloratura. At the age of 26 she sang in all four operas in the Bayreuth opening production of THE RING. During a tour in Sweden she heard CARMEN and sang the role the first time in 1884 in Berlin. Her partner in LUCREZIA BORGIA (and at the Met) was her later husband, the tenor Paul Kalisch (1855-1946). In her time at the Vienna Court Opera she also performed dramatic parts: Leonora, Donna Anna, Norma, Isolde, Aida, Brünnhilde. She offered the New York audience CARMEN, Brünnhilde, Sulamith in THE QUEEN OF SHEBA, Berthe in LE PROPHÈTE, Marguerite, Irene in RIENZI, Venus, Isolde, Viviane in Goldmark´s unknown MERLIN, FIDELIO, Rachel in LA JUIVE, EURYANTHE, Valentine in LES HUGUENOTS, Donna Anna, Amelia, AIDA, NORMA, Philine in MIGNON, Sélika in L´AFRICAINE and Elsa (both with Jean de Reszke). Her last Met performance was in April 1899 as Sieglinde in WALKÜRE with Schumann-Heink as Fricka. Simply repeating her roles underlines Lilli Lehmanns singularity. Here she is with a short summary of three remarkable recordings. She was past her peak, but still very impressive. Dealing with such old recordings requires understanding from a modern audience.
Lilli Lehmann wrote two autobiographic books and she was one of the main founders of the Salzburg Festival. She died in May 1929 in Berlin.
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