"I have studied for a long time with Lilli Lehmann in Berlin; in fact I
might say she is almost my only teacher, though I did have some
instruction before going to her, both in America and Paris. You see, I
always sang, even as a very little girl. My mother has excellent taste
and knowledge in music, and finding I was in danger of straining my
voice through singing with those older than myself, she placed me with a
vocal teacher when I was twelve, as a means of preservation.
"Lehmann is a wonderful teacher and an extraordinary woman as well.
What art is there--what knowledge and understanding! What intensity
there is in everything she does. She used to say: 'Remember, these four
walls which inclose you, make a very different space to fill compared to
an opera house; you must take this fact into consideration and study
accordingly.' No one ever said a truer word. If one only studies or
sings in a room or studio, one has no idea of what it means to fill a
theater. It is a distinct branch of one's work to gain power and control
and to adapt one's self to large spaces. One can only learn this by
doing it.
"It is sometimes remarked by listeners at the opera, that we sing too
loud, or that we scream. They surely never think of the great size of
the stage, of the distance from the proscenium arch to the footlights,
or from the arch to the first set of wings. They do not consider that
within recent years the size of the orchestra has been largely
increased, so that we are obliged to sing against this great number of
instruments, which are making every possible kind of a noise except that
of a siren. It is no wonder that we must make much effort to be heard:
sometimes the effort may seem injudicious. The point we must consider
is to make the greatest possible effect with the least possible
exertion.
"Lehmann is the most painstaking, devoted teacher a young singer can
have. It is proof of her excellent method and her perfect understanding
of vocal mastery, that she is still able to sing in public, if not with
her old-time power, yet with good tone quality. It shows what an artist
she really is. I always went over to her every summer, until the war
came. We would work together at her villa in Gruenewald, which you
yourself know. Or we would go for a holiday down nearer Salzburg, and
would work there. We always worked wherever we were.