Callas with Malice

by Judy Sutcliffe

Lehmann's delicious humor frequently found its way onto paper in both words and pictures. Witty captions with caricatures swiftly and spontaneously sketched spice her letters to kindred souls such as Arthur Goldberg, whose Lehmann correspondence was purchased at auction this past year by the Lotte Lehmann Archives at the University of California at Santa Barbara. A group of caricatures of Maria Callas by Lehmann was published in Opera Now, a British magazine, in December 1989. The skecches of Callas show her reacting with discomfit to a nasty review by Goldberg.

The February 1990 issue of Opera Now presents in thumbnail format Lehmann's picture book story of Lohengrin, all in full color. The watercolor sketches and the typed captions both stray considerably, and very humorusly, from the opera. I saw the two magazines at the Lehmann Archives recencty and wrote down the address: Opera Now, 9 Grape St., London WC24 8DR; Tel: (01) 836-7131. The December 1989 issue contains "Callas with Malice", the February issue contains "Lohengrin by Lehmann."