MASTER CLASSES Lotte Lehmann & Her Legacy Vol. V ARIAS Gary Hickling MASTER CLASSES Lotte Lehmann & Her Legacy Vol. V ARIAS Gary Hickling i Introduction L otte Lehmann’s legacy in recordings, films, and writing offers as much fascination now as many years ago, and it’s a joy to discover how today’s technology allows access to much of it. Thus it has been my privilege to meld pieces of her legacy (in this case her master classes) into its own art form, a celebration worthy of her charisma and creativity. This Volume V of the series offers Lehmann’s teaching in opera master classes and a few private lessons. You can access the individual arias, opera scenes, and operas presented here in the Index. It’s alphabetized by composer, the opera’s title, as well as the aria’s title. Volume III offers individual songs, Lieder, mélodie. Volume IV provides the song cycles. Lehmann gave master classes beginning right after her farewell recital in 1951. They began at the MAW; then CalTech, Pasadena, California; University of Southern California; Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (41 classes); Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston; Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada; Town Hall, New York City; Wigmore Hall, London (at least 26 classes); Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri; College of Creative Studies, UCSB (at least 10 classes); Vienna, and Salzburg. In a press release for the 1967 Northwestern University master classes, the following sentence appears: “She does not want to turn her students, she says, ‘into a dozen other Lehmanns…I have always enough trouble with this one.’” This can be a motto for all that she was striving for. Again, from the press release: “Mme Lehmann emphasizes during her master classes that she tries to help the singers ‘develop individuality.’” This was probably difficult for the students. Lehmann demonstrated something that she hoped would stimulate their imaginations, but would sometime hear only a weak imitation. She did not teach technique. ii Please excuse the variation in sound quality. These master classes and private lessons weren’t generally professionally recorded. In fact students brought small reel-to-reel devices (later cassette recorders) and just held them on their laps. It’s a miracle that so much sound was captured and that the tapes even survived! Therefore, please understand that the master classes are meant for demonstration, learning, inspiration, and experiencing Lehmann’s sheer joy in teaching. Be patient when an aria master class recording ends early, an introduction is missing, or the tape has stretched and the pitch sags. There’s distortion, noise, tape bleed- through, and other distractions. The years of these classes were from 1951 until 1969, but the actual documentation of the classes’ dates is not important. The Lehmann introductions (translations), suggestions, and demonstrations are the focus of this volume. If you have a master class tape that isn’t found here, please be in touch and I’ll add it when I update this volume. You can reach me at: [email protected] If you don’t find the aria that you’re seeking, don’t despair: check out Kathy Brown’s Lotte Lehmann in America: Her Legacy as Artist Teacher, with Commentaries from Her Master Classes (2012). There are some arias taught in Lehmann master classes that Dr. Brown includes that I haven’t had access to. Though you can’t hear the actual class, Dr. Brown has meticulously written out Lehmann’s commentary. One of the surprises is how many operas Lehmann knew and taught. Even if she never actually performed them, she knows the style, often the words, and of course, the ways that they can best be interpreted. Remember that in many cases she actually knew or had close contact with the composers. This applies to Richard Strauss, of course, but also to Erich Wolfgang Korngold and even Puccini. Please don’t be disappointed when a student doesn’t seem to “get” just what Lehmann is suggesting. Remember the pressure that the student is under; the nervousness of a public performance before such a demanding teacher. I’m amazed that they respond as well as they do. In Volumes I and II you’ll find recordings of various Lehmann students, colleagues, and pianists who tell their Lehmann memories. It’s difficult to know who the pianists were, but they include Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Irving Beckman, Beaumont Glass (especially at the MAW); Donald iii Isaak and Laurence Davis at Northwestern University; Felix Wolfes and Ross Reimueller, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston; Ivor Newton, Wigmore Hall, London; and La Verne Dayton, UCSB. You’ll hear Lehmann credit the pianists from the classes at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. If you haven’t already experienced the previous volumes, the following instructions may help you enjoy this presentation. It’s designed to be seen in the portrait mode, not the landscape mode, on your iPad. Table of Contents: The Apple-based Table of Contents can be found by tapping in the upper left-hand corner of any page where you’ll see three parallel lines. Tap on these to open thumbnails of each page with dots below signifying the individual chapters. We offer our own Table of Contents at the end of this introduction. The chapters are linked (in blue), so just tap on the one you want. This applies for all other blue links. Also, if you use an internal (blue) link, the iPad offers you a “Back to…” or a “Go to…” option to return to where you were reading. The Index is the most useful section for this volume. There you can locate the aria that you’d like to hear Lehmann teach. You’ll find cross-indexed composers and titles of individual operas. Recordings: Once you start a recording, you may return to where you left off, the same way the book remembers your last page. If you swipe to another page, the audio or video there begins. Once you set the level of the audio it will serve generally for the whole book. But since these recordings vary in quality, be prepared to adjust the volume level from time to time. Videos: You may enlarge the videos by simple spreading open your fingers on your IPad. Glossary: Though it’s not apparent, there’s a link to some of the proper names and foreign terms in the text. Tap on the name or term and the information will usually appear from the Glossary. If you wish to see the whole Glossary, just tap the top left of a page and the same three-line image used for the Table of Contents offers a choice to see the Glossary. At the bottom of each Glossary entry you can find every mention of that name or term and in which chapter it occurs. You may tap on the chapter you want and you will be linked to the spot where the name or term appears. iv If you want extended video of Lotte Lehmann teaching Lieder, Video Artists International (www.vaimusic.com) can provide the DVDs. It’s my fervent hope that you’ll learn a lot about interpretive possibilities, imaginative approaches, and the range of vocal colors and background feelings found in an aria or opera character. I’m sure also that you’ll discover what a dedicated teacher Lehmann was in this book: Lotte Lehmann & Her Legacy Vol. V. Gary Hickling On the back of this photo: January 1968 UCSB “Arabella” in action at Master Class; Among my precious memories of you, dear Lotte Lehmann; Your student who is so grateful to you for the many hours of marvelous instruction in interpretation, Lovingly, Arlene La Fleur (Hartson) v Table of Contents Introduction Copyright Index Acknowledgments Foreword Carol Neblett Dedication To Dixon Smith Chapter 1 LL as taught by her students Examples of Lehmann-inspired teaching Chapter 2 Opera Master Classes Arias and opera scenes Chapter 3 The Author vi Index: by Composer, Opera, and Aria Arias/Scenes: By Composer Beethoven: Fidelio: Jetzt, Schätzchen, jetzt sind wir allein…and the following from Act I; Abscheulicher! wo eilst du hin?; Komm, Hoffnung, lass den letzten Stern (Act I) Bizet: Carmen: Parle-moi de ma mère…(Micäela/Don José Act I Duet); L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) (Act I) Debussy: L’enfant prodigue Giordano: Andrea Chénier: Nemico della Patria?! (Duet Act III, sung in English) Gluck: Orfeo: Che farò senza Euridice (Act III) (no recitative) Gounod: Faust: Avant de quitter ces lieux (Act II) Massenet: Hérodiade: Il est doux, il est bon (Act I); Vision fugitive (Act II) Massenet: Le Cid: De cet affreux combat je sors l'âme brisée!…Pleurez! pleurez mes yeux…(Act III) Massenet: Manon: Et je sais votre nom…(Act I duet); Obéissons quand leur voix appelle…(Gavotte) (Act III) Massenet: Werther: Va! laisse couler mes larmes…(“Les larmes”) (Act III) Meyerbeer: Le prophète: Ô, prêtres de Baal…(Act IV) Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro; Marriage of Figaro: Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio…(Act I); LL video excerpt of recitative of the Countess Mozart: Die Zauberflöte; The Magic Flute: O Isis und Osiris…(Act II) Nicolai: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor; The Merry Wives of Windsor: Nein, das ist wirklich doch zu keck! (Act I Duet, sung in English); Gott grüss Euch, Sir! (Act II Duet, sung in English); Wohl denn, gefaßt ist der Entschluß' (Anna’s Aria) (Act III) vii Puccini: La bohème: Que gelida manina (and the following Act I scene between Mimì & Rudolfo); Mi chiamano Mimì (Act I); Mimì!… Speravo di tro- varti qui (and the following Act III scene between Mimì & Marcello) Puccini: Suor Angelica: Di frequente, la sera…(La Zia Principessa aria); Il Principe Gualtiero vostro padre (sung in English) and the following scene; Senza mamma… Puccini: