Lotte Lehmann ranks among the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century, famous for the unique quality of her lyric soprano. Rather than a traditional biography, this book is both a descriptive narrative of LehmannâEUR(TM)s life and a critical analysis of the interconnections of the artist and society.

Michael H. Kater (b.1937) 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. Professor Kater has served as Visiting Hannah Professor of the History of Medicine both at McMaster University in Hamilton and at the University of Toronto. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Canada Council Senior Killam Fellow, and the recipient of the Konrad Adenauer Research Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. As his main research interest is the culture, society and politics of modern Germany, he is the author of many books, several of them prize-winning. He has been a frequent guest at international conferences and lectured widely at universities and academic functions around the world.

Part I. Childhood and Apprentice Years: 1. Perleberg and Berlin; 2. Coming out in Hamburg; Part II. Rise to Fame in Vienna: 3. From empire to republic; 4. A prima donna in the Staatsoper; 5. Private times; Part III. Climax and Crises: 6. New challenges in Vienna; 7. Professional life and private affairs; 8. America; Part IV. Between Third Reich Seduction and American Opportunity: 9. Lotte Lehmann, the lion, and the Third Reich; 10. New York; Part V. Between Touring and Teaching, 1940-50: 11. Frances Holden, Santa Barbara and the new world; 12. Professional transformations; Part VI. Triumphs and Burdens of Old Age, 1951-76: 13. The Music Academy of the West; 14. Master pupils; 15. At dusk; Epilogue.