Never Sang for Hitler

Lotte Lehmann ranks among the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. She was a favorite of Richard Strauss, and also had a famous encounter with Hermann Göring, in which he claimed to want to make her the foremost singer in Nazi Germany. By the time of her final performance in 1951, she was considered one of the finest singing actresses of all time. Rather than a traditional biography, this book is both a descriptive narrative of Lehmann’s life and a critical analysis of the interconnections of the artist and society. Kater describes the varying phases of Lehmann’s life, as well as the sociocultural settings in which she finds herself – whether in the Wilhemine Empire, First Austrian Republic, Nazi Germany, or the United States. Kater’s use of Lehmann’s personal and other papers reshapes much of what is known about her life and career.

Author Biography

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. 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.