Lehmann, Lilli (1848-1929)

Lehmann, Lilli

SINGER, VOCAL TEACHER (GERMANY)

BORN 24 Nov 1848, Würzburg - DIED 17 May 1929, Berlin
REAL NAME Lehmann, Elisabeth Maria
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Landeseigener Friedhof Dahlem, Königin-Luise-Straße 57 (Feld 1 (Abt. 31 - 35) (Ehrengrab))

German soprano Lilli Lehmann's mother Maria Theresia Löw was Jewish and had been a prima donna at the Opera of Kassel under Louis Spohr. Her father Karl-August Lehmann was a tenor. Lilli debuted in 1865 in Prague. She studied under Heinrich Laube and in 1870 she went to Berlin, where she was engaged at the Opera until 1885. In 1876 she sang in Wagner's "Das Rheingold" at the first Festspiele in Bayreuth.

In 1881 Wagner asked her to select and educate six flowermaidens for his new opera "Parsifal". She accepted until it became clear that Fritz Brandt succeeded his father as technical director of the festival. There had been an unhappy love affair between her and Brandt and others had to take care of the flowermaidens.

From 1885 until 1889 she performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1888 she married singer Paul Kalisch. They had a son, David. When she returned to Berlin later than allowed she faced a ban, but the emperor himself intervened. In 1901 she was one of the founders of the Festspiele in Salzburg. In 1902 she published "Meine Gesangskunst" ("My Singing Art"). After he active career she worked as a teacher. Among her pupils were Geraldine Farrar and Olive Fremstad.

Related persons
• was teacher to Farrar, Geraldine
• cooperated with Wagner, Richard

Sources
• Wikipedia (English)
• Encyclopedie van de Muziek, 1959
• Ernst, Helmut & Heinrich Stümbke, Wo sie ruhen..., Kleiner Führer zu den Grabstätten bekannter Berliner in West und Ost, Stapp Verlag, Berlin, 1986
• Mende, Hans-Jürgen, Lexicon Berliner Grabstätten, Haude & Spener, 2005