LOTTE LEHMANN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23828, 7 June 1939, Page 8

LOTTE LEHMANN

One of the more amusing experiences Lotte Lehmann can remember occurred when she was singing with Richard Tauber in " Der Freischutz " in Vienna Madame Lehmann, who will be heard in the Dunedin Town Hall on Thursday, June 15, recounts the story in her own inimitable fashion. "Just before the performance I reminded Mr Tauber that he still owed me a bar of chocolate by way of payment of a bet he had lost: You will get it,' he told me with a mischievous smile. ' when you least expect it,' Of course I forgot all about the bet in the excitement of the performance And then in the second act of the opera, something dreadful happened. My part called for me to come dashing out of the forest and into the arms of my lover. Mr Tauber. Out I rushed with arms outstretched toward him. The next minute my stage lover was thrusting a 12-inch bar of chocolate out at me. Between iaughter and confusion I could hardly sing a note. Nor could Mr Tauber. Finally summoning up all my self-control, I dropped the bar of chocolate behind me on to a bench and went on with the performance A few minutes later the villafr. of th* opera made his entrance resplend ently clad in white doublet and hosf Of course he plumped right down or lhe Har of chocolate and spent the res' of the evening dodging between Mr Taube; and myself lest the audiet.rushoulc" get a glimpse of the ugly choco Jate stair, where he had sat down But the funniest part of the story 1 think was that the critics next day observed that the forest scene was the best they had ever seen because 'Madame Lehmann and Mr Tauber were genuinely moved by the Intensity of the emotions,' "