More Than Singing. The Interpretation of Songs

As its title connotes, More Than Singing is not only about music and proper vocal techniques but about life and the transcendent power of art. It is an invaluable guide for any aspiring singer of lieder, but will interest all who seek a deeper understanding and fuller appreciation of the world's great music.
Lotte Lehmann was one of the most eminent lyric-dramatic sopranos of the early twentieth century, especially noted for her passionate and sensitive renderings of lieder. In this volume, she distills a lifetime of work, research and experience into concise, revealing lessons in the interpretation of songs by Schubert, Brahms, Haydn, Schumann, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wolf, Richard Strauss, Mahler, Debussy, Fauré, Tchaikovsky and other masters.
"Only that is convincing which is truly felt," asserts the author, and in this ,nsightful and inspiring manual, she illuminates the subtleties of tempo, phrasing, enunciation - even the proper pose, facial expressions and gestures - that enable singers to plumb the true depths of the song and give poem and music their deepest meanings. Lovers of lieder will especially appreciate Lotte Lehmann's inspired interpretations of complete song cycles, Schubert's Die Winterreise, Die schöne Müllerin, Schumann's Dichterliebe, and others.
In guiding vocalists through the beauties and complexities of lieder, with their recurring themes of love, loss, pain and suffering, joy, melancholy and death, the author counsels strict avoidance of sentimentality to preserve the grandeur of the lied. Similarly, singers are frequently advised to "lift out each syllable," to avoid "gliding and scooping," and to devote themselves to inner preparation for the song: "You should never begin a song without first imagining the story which underlies it and ... you should never end a song without considering the continuation of the story which goes beyond the ending of the song."
In an affectionate and admiring foreword, the great conductor Bruno Walter added his voice to the chorus of friends and students who welcomed the first publication (1945) of this book: "Dear Lotte! ... Who could better speak of the Lied than you who have such a deep understanding of its nature and the demands of its style? Who can give wiser advice to the younger generation of singers?" Readers of this new Dover edition of her work will indeed find the great soprano an unsurpassed mentor in the art of bringing deep personal expression to scores of magnificent art songs.

Unabridged Dover (1985) republication of the edition published by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York, 1945. Statement by Bruno Walter. Foreword by the author.

CONTENIDO:

Dear Lotte! by Bruno Walter
Foreword
Introduction

- Franz Schubert
Im Abendrot
Gretchen am Spinnrad
Das Fischermädchen
Der Doppelgänger
Die Forelle
Erlkönig

- Robert Schumann
Widmung
Die Lotosblume
Wer machte dich so krank?
Alte Laute
Waldesgespräch
Stille Tränen

- Johannes Brahms
Wiegenlied
Dein blaues Auge
Nicht mehr zu Dir zu gehen
Botschaft
Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht
Der Schmied
Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer
Die Mainacht
Sapphische Ode
Auf dem Kirchhofe
Wir wandelten
Nachtigall
Das Mädchen spricht
Feldeinsamkeit
Meine Liebe ist grün
Therese
Vergebliches Ständchen

- Felix Mendelssohn
Venetianisches Gondellied
Neue Liebe
Auf Flügeln des Gesanges

- Hugo Wolf
Auf ein altes Bild
Das verlassene Mägdelein
Auch kleine Dinge
Und willst Du Deinen Liebsten sterben sehen
In der Frühe
Gebet
Gesang Weyla's
Er ist's
Der Gärtner
Mausfallen Sprüchlein

- Richard Strauss
Ruhe, meine Seele
Allerseelen
Traum durch die Dammerung
Befreit
Morgen
Die Nacht
Cäcilie
Zueignung
Ständchen
Heimliche Aufforderung


- Gustav Mahler
Liebst Du urn Schönheit
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Um Mitternacht
The Cycle

- Ludwig van Beethoven
An die ferne Geliebte

- Franz Schubert
Die Winterreise
Die schöne Müllerin

- Robert Schumann
Dichterliebe
Frauenliebe und leben

- Joseph Haydn
She never told her Love

- Dr. Arne
The Plague of Love

- Old English
Phillida and Corridon
Come let's be merry

- Peri
Invocazione di Orfeo

- Giuseppe Torelli
Tu lo sai

- Claudio Monteverdi
Lasciatemi morire

- Jean Paul Martini
Plaisirs d'amour

- Claude Debussy
La flûte de Pan
Colloque sentimental
La chevelure
Fantoches

- Henry Duparc
Le manoir de Rosamonde
L'invitation au voyage
Au pays où se fait la guerre

- Gabriel Fauré
Apres un rêve
Rencontre
Nell

- Reynaldo Hahn
L'heure exquise
Paysage
D'une prison

- Peter I. Tschaikovsky
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt

- Alexander Gretchaninoff .
Over the Steppe

- Reinhold Glière
Ah Twine no Blossoms

- Sergei V. Rachmaninoff
In the Silence of the Night