Lehmann in the New Yorker

There was an extensive article on Jeffrey Tate, the respected British conductor with a strong interest in opera, in the 30 April 1990 issue of the New Yorker. At one point he speaks of conducting a vocal line: "There is a moment—an exquisite moment— when a voice will possess the right amount of overtones, when it will have the beauty of vibration and will need just one mini-second more to expand and blossom. If you skate over that moment, the beauty of the line is lost. You can't teach that to a conductor; you can only gain it by listening and having much experience. Of course, one must always consider the text as welL There's a mistaken idea about bel canto. It's not a monotonous legato line, with never a rise and falL Without sacrificing the musical phrase in any way, the singer must feel the inflections of the language. Listen to recordings of Caruso, Gigli, or Lotte Lehmann."

In another New Yorker "Profile," this from 22 April 1991, the focus is on the longtime Lehmann friend, music critic and author Marcia Davenport. Now 89, Davenport remains feisty and opinion filled. She speaks of the four soprano voices that, "each in its own way ... constitute everything I respond to with everything I've got... first, my mother's. [Alma Gluck] That's self-evident. The next is Rosa Ponselle's—for its sheer incomparable beauty. That was physically the most beautiful voice I ever heard, in a class all by itself. And the next, for contrasting reasons, is Lotte Lehmann's: she was the finest singing actress I ever I heard. And the fourth is Leontyne Price's--a most extraordinary natural voice." Later in this interview Davenport states "There are certain works that I have sworn I will never listen to again, because I cannot stand the violations of my concept of perfection. Between Maestro [Toscanini) and Lotte Lehmann, I will never again listen to a performance of Fidelio. . and I won't listen to Rosenkavalier, because of Lotte Lehmann. That's perfection, too. I won't spoil my treasures. . ."