Never Sang for Hitler

Lotte Lehmann may no longer be a household name, but, as this splendid biography shows, her life and career as one of the foremost German lyric sopranos of the previous century merit closer contextual scrutiny. Lehmann's career took her from humble Prussian origins, through abundant talent, modest connections and sheer perseverance to the Vienna Staatsoper, America and beyond, leapfrogging Nazi Germany in ambiguous circumstances. As an authority on music in the Nazi era, Michael Kater is well qualified to deconstruct the self-generated myths surrounding one of their cultural escapees, providing an account based on assiduous new research which is as rich in detail as in psychological insight. This is not the first biography of the singer, whose eventful life has already generated at least three previous attempts (not including her 1937 autobiography), but this is the first to use newly available archival material, and to avoid hagiography. Kater's sources are many and impressive, including interviews with surviving dramatis personae from Lehmann's life, such as her long-time cohabitant, American academic and heiress Frances Holden; fresh material from widely scattered archives (Columbia University, Vienna, Santa Barbara); and a by and large crisp, critical take on the vast secondary literature

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