Lotte Lehmann, Master Classes, Vol. 1.

[] Music of Strauss, Mozart, Schumann. With Duke, de la Cruz, Bolton, Milius, Chronis. 1961. VAI VHS 69232, 56 mins.

Celebrity master classes are so entertaining for the spectator and such torture for the students that there ought to be a special medal for those sacrificial participants. In this video from KQED/Thirteen, we sit in on two seminars given by Lotte Lehmann at the Music Academy of the West in 1961. The repertoire -- Schumann lieder, Mozart's "Dove sono" and the monologue of the Marschallin -- is so identified with Lehmann that it's pretty clear the student's interpretation is not what she's after. It is more a matter of "let me show you what I did here." This could be a tedious ego trip, but when the seventy-two-year-old Lehmann shoves aside the soprano, who hasn't yet uttered a syllable, to show her the Marschallin, the results are spellbinding. Lehmann may be croaking the part down an octave, but the lesson -- how to create and develop a true emotional and psychological line -- comes across loud and clear. This is power ...