Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann
Marlene Dietrich
Alma Mahler
Do you recognize these artists?
Click on their pictures to reveal their names and follow the arrows to learn more about them. When you are done, you can click "Next" to go to the next page.
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Lotte Lehmann
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Marlene Dietrich
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Alma Mahler
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MUSIC FROM THEIR EARLY LIVES
TO AMERICA
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Interdisciplinary transnational collaboration and artistic cross-pollination through human connection?
Do these faces sound familiar?
These are only a few of their close friends and collaborators...
Which forms of collaboration did they engage with?
[Click on the pink checkboxes to learn more]
Through their work in music, theater and film
Giving and receiving feedback from their friends
Engaging in conversations about art and culture
Through their teaching and public speaking
Co-creating
Establishing mutual-aid networks and supporting the work of other artists.
How can we continue to collaborate with them?
For longer comments and questions, you can reach me at egonzalezmar@umass.edu
Their writings and correspodence showcase their reflections on questions about tradition and/or aesthetics:
Click HERE to read Marlene Dietrich's reflections on American food culture
Click HERE to read some of Lotte Lehmann's thoughts on music
Click HERE are some of her thoughts on tradition
Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann was a German soprano and Lieder singer. She was born in the town of Perleberg, in 1888, but her family moved to Berlin while she was still in school. After earning a name for herself through her highly praised performances in Hamburg, in 1912, Lehmann moved to Vienna to develop her career as an opera singer.
Lotte Lehmann
Lehmann’s childhood memories in her autobiography and personal writing are plagued with references to her family’s musical activities. According to her testimony, music was an essential part of both her family's daily activities and celebrations.
Teaching and public interventions
Lotte Lehmann worked as a teacher for many years during her US exile. She collaborated with other renowned musicias and intellectuals, like her friend Arturo Toscanini, as the founder of the Academy of the West. She mentored aclaimed singers such as Grace Bumbry. Marlene Dietrich participated in many radio shows and public media. For example, she co-hosted a show with her friend Orson Wells. According to Dietrich's testimony in her memoirs, this job saved her from finantial drain while she was going through a difficult time: When I was discharged from the army, I was penniless Welles offered me his house I settled down in it and worked with him on the radio until the war in the Pacific came to an end We spent most of our time in the studio in front of a microphone at which he was much better than I was (Marlene, 119)
Teaching with Lotte Lehmann
In this video, Lotte Lehmann provides a short summary of the story the Erlkoenig. This Germanic folk legend, adapted by Goethe and set to music by Schubert, has also been adapted by international authors such as Angela Carter. In my class, the students compared Angela Carter's style in her horror adaptation of the Erl King with elements characteristic of Romantic aesthetics. Lotte Lehmann's enthusiastic description of the story and performance served as a warm-up to our discussion of Carter's story.
Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann was a German soprano and Lieder singer. She was born in the town of Perleberg, in 1888, but her family moved to Berlin while she was still in school. After earning a name for herself through her highly praised performances in Hamburg, in 1912, Lehmann moved to Vienna to develop her career as an opera singer.
Lotte Lehmann sings "An die Musik", by Schubert, one of her favorite songs.
Finding alternative ways to engage with their work:
On the pictures, you can see a picture of two of Lotte Lehmann's paintings. Her creative process involved exploring her ideas across media. This resonated a lot with my own process, especifically, with my thinking and writing process. In order to fully embrace this idea, I decided to try painting and drawing as a way to brainstorm for my writing. The last image on the left shows a picture of my own brainstorming watercolor painting that I created as I was braistorming to write my chapter on Lotte Lehmann's Of Heaven, Hell and Hollywood.
Alma Mahler was famous for her prolific relationships with other artists, and often exchanged feedback and opinions with them. For example, her correspondence with Arnold Schoenberg shows that he was often sharing his manuscripts with Alma M, and appreciated her feedback. Many others did so too. In the following letter to writer Stefan Zweig, found at the Stefan Zweig collection in Fredonia, NY, she shares her impressions on one of Zweig's books:
"Ich habe dein schones Buch noch einmal gelesen. Es geht mir tief nah. Die Figur darin - alle Empfindungen dieser Menschen sind so echt. Es ist bestimmt eines deiner schoensten Werke!"
Lotte Lehmann often shared the manuscripts of her writings and pictures of her paintings with her friends and relatives. For example, as her correspondence with the writer Erika Mann, hosted at UCSB shows, she often shared drafts or her fictional writings and requested feedback from her friend.
Marlene Dietrich
In her memoirs, Marlene, Dietrich shares that she had a pleasant childhood, thanks to her mother. She recalls spending most of her time practicing with her violin and other intellectual and creative activities, which she enjoyed.
Alma Mahler and her husband Franz Werfel left Germany and walked across the Pirenees by foot in 1938, and migrated to the U.S. in 1940, where she spent the rest of her life.
Lotte Lehmann was a German soprano and Lieder singer. She was born in the town of Perleberg, in 1888, but her family moved to Berlin while she was still in school. After earning a name for herself through her highly praised performances in Hamburg, in 1912, Lehmann moved to Vienna to develop her career as an opera singer.
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich emigrated to the US in 1930, to work in the Hollywood industry, and decided to stay. In 1939, she renounced her German citizenship. In the mid 1940s, she travelled around singing to the American troops. Her anti-war efforts have been widely acknowledged.
For example:
- Lotte Lehmann's work in opera, or Marlene Dietrich's work on the stage and the movie industry.
- Additionally, Lotte Lehmann also featured in the 1948 Hollywood movie, Big City.
Alma Mahler
Alma Mahler Werfel (born Schindler) grew up in a family of artists, and took music lessons since she was young. Her father was a painter, and she was in touch with other artists since her childhood and youth, including renowned musicians like Alexander Zemlinsky or her first husband, Gustav Mahler.
Lotte Lehmann receives feedback from Francis Holden
Photo published on the Lotte Lehmann League online archives.
Lotte Lehmann
In the mid 1930s, Lehmann's outspoken nature lead to the loss of her German citizenship after rejecting a contract to sing in Germany for the Nazis. With the annexation of Austria, Lehmann lost her recently acquired Austrian citizenship and became effectively stateless until she became an American in the 1940s. She spent the rest of her days in California, where she shared her life with her friend Francis Holden and her dogs.
Alma Mahler's self portrait from 1916.
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Transcript
Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann
Marlene Dietrich
Alma Mahler
Do you recognize these artists?
Click on their pictures to reveal their names and follow the arrows to learn more about them. When you are done, you can click "Next" to go to the next page.
Next
Lotte Lehmann
GO BACK
Marlene Dietrich
GO BACK
Alma Mahler
GO BACK
MUSIC FROM THEIR EARLY LIVES
TO AMERICA
Next
Interdisciplinary transnational collaboration and artistic cross-pollination through human connection?
Do these faces sound familiar?
These are only a few of their close friends and collaborators...
Which forms of collaboration did they engage with?
[Click on the pink checkboxes to learn more]
Through their work in music, theater and film
Giving and receiving feedback from their friends
Engaging in conversations about art and culture
Through their teaching and public speaking
Co-creating
Establishing mutual-aid networks and supporting the work of other artists.
How can we continue to collaborate with them?
For longer comments and questions, you can reach me at egonzalezmar@umass.edu
Their writings and correspodence showcase their reflections on questions about tradition and/or aesthetics:
Click HERE to read Marlene Dietrich's reflections on American food culture
Click HERE to read some of Lotte Lehmann's thoughts on music
Click HERE are some of her thoughts on tradition
Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann was a German soprano and Lieder singer. She was born in the town of Perleberg, in 1888, but her family moved to Berlin while she was still in school. After earning a name for herself through her highly praised performances in Hamburg, in 1912, Lehmann moved to Vienna to develop her career as an opera singer.
Lotte Lehmann
Lehmann’s childhood memories in her autobiography and personal writing are plagued with references to her family’s musical activities. According to her testimony, music was an essential part of both her family's daily activities and celebrations.
Teaching and public interventions
Lotte Lehmann worked as a teacher for many years during her US exile. She collaborated with other renowned musicias and intellectuals, like her friend Arturo Toscanini, as the founder of the Academy of the West. She mentored aclaimed singers such as Grace Bumbry. Marlene Dietrich participated in many radio shows and public media. For example, she co-hosted a show with her friend Orson Wells. According to Dietrich's testimony in her memoirs, this job saved her from finantial drain while she was going through a difficult time: When I was discharged from the army, I was penniless Welles offered me his house I settled down in it and worked with him on the radio until the war in the Pacific came to an end We spent most of our time in the studio in front of a microphone at which he was much better than I was (Marlene, 119)
Teaching with Lotte Lehmann
In this video, Lotte Lehmann provides a short summary of the story the Erlkoenig. This Germanic folk legend, adapted by Goethe and set to music by Schubert, has also been adapted by international authors such as Angela Carter. In my class, the students compared Angela Carter's style in her horror adaptation of the Erl King with elements characteristic of Romantic aesthetics. Lotte Lehmann's enthusiastic description of the story and performance served as a warm-up to our discussion of Carter's story.
Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann was a German soprano and Lieder singer. She was born in the town of Perleberg, in 1888, but her family moved to Berlin while she was still in school. After earning a name for herself through her highly praised performances in Hamburg, in 1912, Lehmann moved to Vienna to develop her career as an opera singer.
Lotte Lehmann sings "An die Musik", by Schubert, one of her favorite songs.
Finding alternative ways to engage with their work:
On the pictures, you can see a picture of two of Lotte Lehmann's paintings. Her creative process involved exploring her ideas across media. This resonated a lot with my own process, especifically, with my thinking and writing process. In order to fully embrace this idea, I decided to try painting and drawing as a way to brainstorm for my writing. The last image on the left shows a picture of my own brainstorming watercolor painting that I created as I was braistorming to write my chapter on Lotte Lehmann's Of Heaven, Hell and Hollywood.
Alma Mahler was famous for her prolific relationships with other artists, and often exchanged feedback and opinions with them. For example, her correspondence with Arnold Schoenberg shows that he was often sharing his manuscripts with Alma M, and appreciated her feedback. Many others did so too. In the following letter to writer Stefan Zweig, found at the Stefan Zweig collection in Fredonia, NY, she shares her impressions on one of Zweig's books:
"Ich habe dein schones Buch noch einmal gelesen. Es geht mir tief nah. Die Figur darin - alle Empfindungen dieser Menschen sind so echt. Es ist bestimmt eines deiner schoensten Werke!"
Lotte Lehmann often shared the manuscripts of her writings and pictures of her paintings with her friends and relatives. For example, as her correspondence with the writer Erika Mann, hosted at UCSB shows, she often shared drafts or her fictional writings and requested feedback from her friend.
Marlene Dietrich
In her memoirs, Marlene, Dietrich shares that she had a pleasant childhood, thanks to her mother. She recalls spending most of her time practicing with her violin and other intellectual and creative activities, which she enjoyed.
Alma Mahler and her husband Franz Werfel left Germany and walked across the Pirenees by foot in 1938, and migrated to the U.S. in 1940, where she spent the rest of her life.
Lotte Lehmann was a German soprano and Lieder singer. She was born in the town of Perleberg, in 1888, but her family moved to Berlin while she was still in school. After earning a name for herself through her highly praised performances in Hamburg, in 1912, Lehmann moved to Vienna to develop her career as an opera singer.
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich emigrated to the US in 1930, to work in the Hollywood industry, and decided to stay. In 1939, she renounced her German citizenship. In the mid 1940s, she travelled around singing to the American troops. Her anti-war efforts have been widely acknowledged.
For example:
Alma Mahler
Alma Mahler Werfel (born Schindler) grew up in a family of artists, and took music lessons since she was young. Her father was a painter, and she was in touch with other artists since her childhood and youth, including renowned musicians like Alexander Zemlinsky or her first husband, Gustav Mahler.
Lotte Lehmann receives feedback from Francis Holden
Photo published on the Lotte Lehmann League online archives.
Lotte Lehmann
In the mid 1930s, Lehmann's outspoken nature lead to the loss of her German citizenship after rejecting a contract to sing in Germany for the Nazis. With the annexation of Austria, Lehmann lost her recently acquired Austrian citizenship and became effectively stateless until she became an American in the 1940s. She spent the rest of her days in California, where she shared her life with her friend Francis Holden and her dogs.
Alma Mahler's self portrait from 1916.