Front Matter

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87392-5 - Never Sang for Hitler: The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888-1976 Michael H. Kater Frontmatter More information

Never Sang for Hitler The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888–1976

Lotte Lehmann ranks among the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. She was a favorite of Richard Strauss, and over her lifetime she became the friend of other famous men: Bruno Walter, Arturo Toscanini, and Thomas Mann. She had a famous encounter with Hermann Goring,¨ in which he claimed that he wanted to make her the foremost singer in Nazi Germany. By the time of her final major performance in 1951, she was considered one of the finest singing actresses of all time. Rather than a traditional biography, this book aims to be both a descriptive narrative of Lehmann’s life and a critical analysis of the interconnections of the artist and society. Michael H. Kater describes the varying phases of Lehmann’s life, as well as the sociocultural settings in which she finds herself – whether in the Wilhemine Empire, the First Austrian Republic, Nazi Germany, or the United States. Kater’s use of Lehmann’s personal and other papers reshapes much of what is known about her life and career.

Michael H. Kater has studied history, sociology, and music at the Universities of Toronto, Munich, and Heidelberg. Since 1967, he has taught at York University, Toronto, from 1991 to the present as Distinguished Research Professor of History. Kater has served as Visiting Hannah Professor of the History of Medicine at both McMaster University in Hamilton and the University of Toronto. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Canada Council Senior Killam Fellow and the recipient of the Konrad Adenauer Research Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His main research interest is the society, politics, and culture of modern Germany, and he is the author of many books, several of them prize-winning.

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87392-5 - Never Sang for Hitler: The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888-1976 Michael H. Kater Frontmatter More information

Other Books by Michael H. Kater

Das “Ahnenerbe” der SS, 1935–1945: Ein Beitrag zur Kulturpolitik des Dritten Reiches (1974) Studentenschaft und Rechtsradikalismus in Deutschland, 1918–1933: Eine sozialgeschichtliche Studie zur Bildungskrise in der Weimarer Republik (1975) The Nazi Party: A Social Proﬁle of Members and Leaders, 1919–1945 (1983) Doctors Under Hitler (1989) Different Drummers: Jazz in the Culture of Nazi Germany (1992) The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich (1997) Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits (2000) Hitler Youth (2004)

Never Sang for Hitler

The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888–1976

MICHAEL H. KATER York University

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi

Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521873925

C Michael H. Kater 2008

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2008

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kater, Michael H., 1937– Never sang for Hitler : the life and times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888–1976 / Michael H. Kater. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. isbn 978-0-521-87392-5 (hardback) 1. Lehmann, Lotte. 2. Sopranos (Singers) – Biography. I. Title. ml420.l33k37 2008 782.1092–dc22 2007025323 [b]

isbn 978-0-521-87392-5 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

To Barbara, who inspired me to write this book and whose constant support sustained my efforts.

Contents

List of Illustrations page ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xiii

1 Childhood and Apprentice Years 1 Perleberg and Berlin 1 Coming Out in Hamburg 15 2 Rise to Fame in Vienna 38 From Empire to Republic 38 A Prima Donna in the Staatsoper 50 Private Times 76 3 Climax and Crises 91 New Challenges in Vienna 91 Professional Life and Private Affairs 112 America 136 4 Between Third Reich Seduction and American Opportunity 153 Lotte Lehmann, the Lion, and the Third Reich 153 New York 166 5 Between Touring and Teaching, 1940–1950 198 Frances Holden, Santa Barbara, and the New World 198 Professional Tranformations 221 6 Triumphs and Burdens of Old Age, 1951–1976 249 The Music Academy of the West 249 Master Pupils 262 At Dusk 275

Epilogue 301 Notes 313 Index 381

vii

Illustrations

1 Lotte Lehmann in Perleberg, ca. 1894. page 4 2 Lotte Lehmann, Karl Lehmann, Marie Lehmann, and Fritz Lehmann in Perleberg, ca. 1900. 6 3 Lotte Lehmann as Agathe in Der Freischutz¨ , Hamburg, 1911. 20 4 Lotte Lehmann as Elsa in Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, Hamburg, 1914. 21 5 Handbill announcing Lotte Lehmann’s debut´ as Composer in Richard Strauss’s opera Ariadne auf Naxos at the Vienna Hofoper, October 4, 1916. 40 6 From the left: Richard Strauss, Lotte Lehmann, Alfred Jerger, and Lothar Wallerstein in Salzburg, date unknown. 108 7 Fritz Lehmann, Otto Krause, Lotte Lehmann, and Fritz’s wife Clara, ca. 1930. 126 8 Lotte Lehmann and Arturo Toscanini, date unknown. 132 9 Lotte Lehmann and Erno¨ Balogh, 1934. 148 10 Lotte Lehmann as the Marschallin on the cover of Time magazine, February 18, 1935. 177 11 Lotte Lehmann and Otto Krause on the French Riviera in the summer of 1938. 186 12 Constance Hope’s wedding, New York, 1936. Kleinchen is third from left; behind Hope’s mother stands Ezio Pinza, beside him Lotte Lehmann. Lauritz Melchior is chatting with Edith Behrens, behind the bride and groom. 191 13 From the left: Frances Holden, Geraldine Farrar, Lotte Lehmann, and Viola Westervelt-Douglas, New York, ca. 1939. 196 14 Lotte Lehmann and Frances Holden at Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara, 1948. 202 15 From the right: Gen. Warren Fales, Frances Holden, and Lotte Lehmann at Camp Roberts, California, April 1943. 215 16 Thomas Mann, Lotte Lehmann, Bruno Walter, and Erika Mann at Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara, early 1940s. 217 17 Lotte Lehmann, Lauritz Melchior, Mia and Robert Hecht, and Paul Ulanowsky with Kleinchen in Atlanta, December 1939. 230 18 Danny Thomas, Lotte Lehmann, and Margaret O’Brien singing “God Bless America” in The Big City, Hollywood, 1947. 236

x Illustrations

19 Lotte Lehmann’s sketch of scenes from Der Rosenkavalier, date unknown. 242 20 Lotte Lehmann with Music Academy students Grace Bumbry and Luba Tcheresky (seated right) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, March 26, 1958. 255 21 Lotte Lehmann’s watercolor depiction of Frances Holden at Hope Ranch, date unknown. 290 22 Theresia Heinz-Lehmann and Fritz Lehmann in Santa Barbara, early 1950s. 292 23 Lotte Lehmann with an unknown friend at Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara, 1973. 298

Acknowledgments

The number of people I have to thank for helping me write this book is very large, and I cannot possibly list them all by name. First in line are interlibrary- loan librarians at York University, who satisfied my constant craving for books and articles, which arrived from North America and Europe. Without them, this book simply could not have been written. Their names are Mary Lehane, Gladys Fung, and Sandra Snell. This biography, however, is based for the most part on primary documents, as they became available for first-time use in the late 1980s and during the 1990s. Those documents contrasted sharply with three preexisting biographies and Lehmann’s own memoirs of 1937, which were of only limited value. In the former category, Beaumont Glass’s Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera and Song (Santa Barbara, 1988) is the work of a former piano coach who had assisted Lehmann in her California teaching, and while on the basis of, at that time, limited evidence it gets many facts right, it is in essence a product of hagiography. The second volume of this genre is the English music critic Alan Jefferson’s Lotte Lehmann, 1888–1976 (London, 1988), which resembles a travelogue and discography more than the retelling of an artist’s life. Most egregiously deficient is Berndt W. Wessling’s Lotte Lehmann: “Sie sang, dass es Sterne ruhrte”:¨ Eine Biographie (Cologne 1995), because for the most part it is a construct of half-truths and outright lies, so that even what could be statements of truth must, by association, be doubted. Lehmann’s autobiography, Anfang und Aufstieg: Lebenserinnerungen (Vienna, 1937), on the other hand, is reliable to a point, yet covers only the first half of her career. She retold many of its episodes in public interviews, letters, and personal memoranda, but the volume is of necessity porous and skewed in her favor. Archivists, therefore, deserve my deepest gratitude, chief among them David C. Tambo and David Seubert of Special Collections, Davidson Library, Univer- sity of California at Santa Barbara, not to forget their able associate, Ursula Clarke, who are the conscientious keepers of the bulk of Lotte Lehmann’s papers. Their colleague, the University of California oral historian David Russell, apart from often-rendered advice, made a precious source available to me, in the form of transcripts of his own extended interview with Frances Holden, of Santa Barbara, shortly before her death in 1996. In New York I was aided by the curators of the Constance Hope Papers, at Rare Books and Manuscripts, Columbia University Butler Library, and by Robert Tuggle, the archivist of the Metropolitan Opera, who proved especially helpful on later,

xii Acknowledgments

unforeseen occasions. And in Vienna, Jarmila Weissenboeck of the Theater- museum opened her hitherto shielded Lehmann Collection to me, as Gabriele Strauss, Richard Strauss, and Christian Strauss did with their grandfather’s correspondence, in the composer’s villa in Garmisch. I have received crucial assistance from two experts during the research and writing phases of this project. Gary Hickling, the founding president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, based in Kailua, Hawaii, not only helped me out with a variety of documents from his own collection and supplied me with countless sound samples and DVDs, but also gave advice even before he read parts of the manuscript very critically. No question was too trivial for him, who had known Lehmann in her old age, and he always replied instantly. I owe an equal debt to Jens Malte Fischer of Munich, who, after reading the manuscript in its entirety, made many important suggestions for improvement. Gerhard Botz read and improved sections in Vienna, as did Istvan´ Deak´ in New York. Edward Baron Turk supplied me with copies of Jeanette MacDonald’s correspondence, and Shirley Sproule gave me a film of Lehmann’s Winterreise paintings, as well as valuable insights into her complex personality. Hertha Stodolowsky-Schuch received me in her Vienna apartment repeatedly, to share with me her memories as well as precious original documents. Commentary and critique were invited from the members of a special seminar that Albrecht Riethmuller,¨ accompanied by Gerhard A. Ritter, arranged at the Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar of the Freie Universitat¨ Berlin in November 2003, and I benefited greatly from that session. The same holds true three years later, when the book was almost completed and I was invited to air remaining doubts, concerns, and queries at a seminar organized at the Charles Warren Center of Harvard University, hosted by Carol Oja, Nancy Cott, and Anne Shreffler. I extend my thanks to everyone who participated so constructively in these events. Research and writing were supported by various funds from York University, notably its Atkinson College, and by the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, where I am based. More help came via a generous Standard Research Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, and the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung in Bonn, which kindly reinvited me to Europe as a former Konrad Adenauer Research Prize winner. Special thanks must go to Jean and Kevin Cook, who aided me at the Music Academy of the West and, more important, offered personal friendship to my wife and me on many research visits to Santa Barbara over the years. The close scrutiny of archivists, colleagues, and friends has undoubtedly eliminated potential mistakes from the final manuscript, a process in which my knowledgeable editor at Cambridge University Press, Eric Crahan, has aided. This does not mean that errors have not remained, and for those I alone must bear responsibility.

Abbreviations

AAKB Archiv, Akademie der Kunste¨ Berlin Agfa Actien-Gesellschaft fur¨ Anilin-Fabrikation AKB/CCA Akademie der Kunste¨ Berlin, Charlotte-Berend-Corinth- Archiv APA author’s private archive ATW Archiv, Theatermuseum Wien ATW/TNLL Archiv, Theatermuseum Wien/Teil-Nachlass Lotte Lehmann BAB Bundesarchiv Berlin Barsewisch author’s interview with Bernhard von Barsewisch, Gross-Pankow, Sept. 26, 2004 BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BC University of California at Santa Barbara, Davidson Library, Special Collections, Lotte Lehmann Papers, Business Correspondence BS Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munchen¨ Bumbry author’s interview with Grace Bumbry, Salzburg, Sept. 29, 2004 BW Bruno Walter CBE Commander of the British Empire CBS Columbia Broadcasting System CU Columbia University, New York, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Butler Library, Constance Hope Papers CW University of California at Santa Barbara, Davidson Library, Special Collections, Lotte Lehmann Papers, Creative Writings EMA Erika-Mann-Archiv in der Handschriftenabteilung der Stadtbibliothek Munchen¨ EP Baronin Emmy zu Putlitz Facs. facsimile FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation FH Frances Holden FL Fritz Lehmann GC University of California at Santa Barbara, Davidson Library, Special Collections, Lotte Lehmann Papers, General Correspondence

xiii

xiv Abbreviations

Grove Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed mm/dd/yyyy), [http://80-www.grovemusic.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca] GStBAB Geheimes Staatsarchiv Berlin, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz/I/HA/Rep119neu/2817 HMWA Haus der Musik Wien, Archiv HAPAG Hamburg-Amerikanische-Paketfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft Hickling Gary Hickling, Lotte Lehmann Chronology (Kailua, 2004–6), PA Hickling HMP Heimat-Museum, Perleberg Holden The Education of Frances Holden: Frances Holden with David Russell, typewritten protocol, Davidson Library Oral History Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, C The Regents of the University of California, 1998 Hvølboll author’s interview with Eric Hvølboll, Santa Barbara, April 20, 2005 KL Karl Lehmann LBI Leo Baeck Institute, New York LL Lotte Lehmann LLFA Lotte Lehmann Foundation Archive, Kailua LLLN Lotte Lehmann League Newsletter MAW Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara MAWA Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, Archives MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MH Mia Hecht ML Marie Lehmann MOA Metropolitan Opera Archives, New York MOA/O Metropolitan Opera Archives, online [http://66.187.153.86/ archives/frame.htm] NBC National Broadcasting Corporation NC University of California at Santa Barbara, Davidson Library, Special Collections, Lotte Lehmann Papers, Newspaper Clippings [Lehmann’s scrapbooks] NYT New York Times ONBW Osterreichische¨ Nationalbibliothek Wien, Musiksammlung ORF Osterreichischer¨ Rundfunk, Wien OSAW Osterreichisches¨ Staatsarchiv Wien, Archiv der Republik, Bundesministerium fur¨ Unterricht, Osterreichische¨ Bundestheaterverwaltung PA private archive PC University of California at Santa Barbara, Davidson Library, Special Collections, Lotte Lehmann Papers, Photography Collection RAVAG Radio-Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft, Wien RCA Radio Corporation of America RG Richard-Strauss-Archiv, Garmisch RKO Radio-Keith-Orpheum Company

Abbreviations xv

RM Reichsmark RS Richard Strauss-Institut, Garmisch SBNP Santa Barbara News-Press Schornstein Herman Schornstein, “From Fan to Friend,” Jan. 26, 2003, APA UCSB University of California at Santa Barbara WTA Wiener Tagblatt-Archiv, Stadt- und Landesarchiv Wien Zytowsky author’s interview with Carl Zytowsky, Santa Barbara, July 23, 1997

Never Sang for Hitler The Life and Times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888–1976