Letters, we got letters...

Gary and I were delighted to hear personally from so many of you who received our first newsletter, and we do encourage communicacion! Furthermore, if you read of anyone in the newsletter whom you would like to contact, write to them in care of Gary or me and we will forward your letter (rather than give out addresses). If there's anything Lehmann enthusiasts like to do, it's share their love of Lehmann with a kindred spirit!

A few quotes from some of the many letters received:

• Alfred Frankenstein, Israel: "There exists now a very beautiful music magazine (monthly) 'Musica' in Hebrew. The editors ask me from time to time to contribute from my memories of great artists an article, and thus...in the November I988 issue appeared my article with personal recollections of Lotte Lehmann..." Mr. Frankenstein promises us a translation of at least a portion of his article for a future newsletter.
• Prof. Richard Exner, UCSB: "... a very dear friend...has iust written her musical memoirs....She makes sevreral references to Lehmann...The book is beautifully done." The book is To Music by Christine Moleta, $25 US. to Aeoliaa Press, P.O. Box 303, Claremont, Western Australia 6010. She quotes Lehmann as saying in a master class, "If you don't sing with every fibre of your body, you may as well go and sell stamps".
• André Tubeuf, France: "Thank you so much for the sending of this first issue of the Lotte Lehmann League, and first of all, so many thanks just because you dared to undertackle it! Hopefully, response will be huge. I have on my side done the best I could so that the Lehmann Centenary could be celebrated in France. The Lehmann CDs in the Réféences series, a tribute in Diapason (the leading French music and records magazine), [and] in the bulletin of the recently founded Richard Strauss Society. I shall look at having copies of everything sent to you....l have been in correspondence with L.L. about fifteen years and have perhaps 50 letters ... a rather considerable collection of her pictures (photos). Besides, I might be the private collector with the most complete set of her 78 records (only two or three still missing)...."

Any challengers? To check the extent of your collection, check the Web Site discography.

• Blair McElroy, Maine: "Thanks so much for your first newsletter. I hope this check will help a bit."

I went right out and bought some more Toscanini stamps! Much appreciated. (We're not a non-profit corporation, just two individuals who have fun giving a few more or less disposable dollars to our favorite soprano. But we're economical about it. That's why you're not seeing photos in these pages. Costly.) [Now we ARE a non-profit to support this website.]

• Beaumont Glass, Iowa, author of Lotte Lehmann: A Life in Opera Song: "Thanks for the first issue of the Lehmann League Newletter, which I found very informative and well done....I know that there are many record collectors and other music lovers who wuould enjoy the book if they knew about it... especially now that several Lehmann CDs have been issued."
• Henry Hall, Sydney, Australia: Your LLL has just arrived (a beautiful job) with the Toscanini stamp...I have a mad passion for the wonderful LL ever since I first heard her Sieglinde and Leonore...I love Lotte's wonderful ardent quality..." Mr. Hall provided some intriguing clues to future research in his letter.
• Trudy and Stan Goldstein, California: "Having attended the 3-day Lotte Lehmann Symposium, the indelible impressions of her voice, lore, art, remain forever! We will never be the same, in the best of senses, and fell "in love" with her. Pleased to receive your newsletter and located "Die Walküre" CD, as well as Lehmann "Opera Arias" in L.A.'s Tower Records... If there are any "opera fanatic" groups in Santa Barbara, send information...We are active master class attenders of Music Academy of the West."

Special thanks to lmogene Henderson of Santa Barbara for her gift to the Lehmann Archives of letters from Lehmann to singer/teacher Ruth Michaelis, photos, and other memorabilia -JS