FAMOUS SINGER IN DOMINION

Southland Times, Issue 23838, 8 June 1939, Page 6

FAMOUS SINGER IN DOMINION

MME LEHMANN’S VIEWS ON AUDIENCES (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 7. Mme Lotte Lehmann, the famous singer, arrived at Wellington from Sydney today. She will give a series of concerts in New Zealand. Interviewed at her hotel where her love of animals was very noticeably displayed by a removal of her quarters so that she would not overlook some railway trucks containing horses, she said she always reacted to the mood of her audience.

Madame Lehmann expressed a hope that New Zealand audiences would like her singing and show their feelings unmistakably. Some thought that to look for warmth in an audience was a form of vanity, but in reality it was the opposite. If an audience was cold she immediately felt there was something wrong with her singing. She did not blame the audience. On the other hand if an audience liked her singing she felt she must give all she possibly could. Paul Alanowsky, her accompanist, was present and supported this view. Mme Lehmann also explained that she was not singing for critics or solely the “high brows” and musically educated. She knew she was a high priestess of the great art and believed it was her duty to make use of her art and give enjoyment to as wide a section of the people as she could.