How to Sing [meine Gesangskunst]
Lilli Lehmann was one of the first true superstars of opera, a dramatic soprano whose powerful, flexible voice and commanding stage presence made her a legend across late 19th-century Europe. In this treatise, drawn from decades of performing at the highest levels, she offers something rare: not abstract theory, but the embodied wisdom of a singer who actually possessed the instrument she describes. She critiques the industrialization of singing instruction, the rush toward quick results that produces shallow technique, and instead argues for patience, deep understanding, and the thorough mastery of fundamentals. The book covers everything from breathing and the physics of resonance to the execution of specific ornaments like the trill, plus the interpretive dimensions of language, emotional expression, and role characterization. Throughout, Lehmann balances the physiological realities of vocal production with the subjective sensations that guide a singer toward their best sound. Whether you are a developing vocalist, a teacher, or simply curious about what made the great singers of the past so extraordinary, this book offers a window into a vanished era of vocal artistry and the principles that undergirded it.
Editions
X-Ray
“It will be much more correct to call every tone of every voice by the name of a new additional register, for in the end, every tone will and must be taken in a different relation, with a different position of the organs, although the difference may be imperceptible, if it is to have its proper place in the whole.””
— Lilli Lehmann
“In a musical figure I must attack the lowest note in such a way that I can easily reach the highest. I must, therefore, give it much more head tone than the single tone requires. (Very important.)””
— Lilli Lehmann
“Students of singing should use the early morning hours, and fill their days with the various branches of their study.””
— Lilli Lehmann
“Among a hundred singers hardly one can be found whose single tones meet every requirement. And among a thousand listeners, even among teachers, and among artists, hardly one hears it.””
— Lilli Lehmann
“One who has sung for a short time, and then has lost his voice, and for this reason becomes a singing teacher, has never sung consciously; it has simply been an accident, and this accident will be repeated, for good or for ill, in his pupils.””
— Lilli Lehmann
“Few teachers concern themselves with the fundamental studies; they often do not sing at all themselves, or they sing quite wrongly; and consequently can neither describe the vocal sensations nor test them in others. Theory alone is of no value whatever.””
— Lilli Lehmann
