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Lilli Lehmann, one of the oldest of the living great singers, was born May 13, 1848. She was a member of the famous casts which introduced many of the Wagner works to New York.
Yet as I went up the rather steep stairs of the Villa van Buren I could see each movement I made, each rise and fall of an eyelash repeated on a surface of brilliantly varnished walnut. "What wonderful wood!" I exclaimed. "It is not real. It is paint," said pretty Lisbeth. "Do you not have walls like this?" "Never," I replied. "Every one does in Holland. We admire them," explained Lilli.
Lilli and Lisbeth merely looked flurried and pink when Freule Menela came airily on board with me, and Alb appeared interested in giving instructions to Hendrik, who disputed respectfully with Tibe possession of countless yards of his beloved cotton waste. At last, however, I began to wonder why we did not get away.
"But isn't the china as valuable, and isn't there as much danger of it's being broken?" She looked puzzled, almost distressed. "Yes, that is true," she admitted, "but it is not a custom. I don't know why, but it never has been." Her housewifely pleasure was spoiled for the moment, and I wished that I hadn't spoken. After all, Lisbeth and Lilli were not to go with us to The Hague.
All instruction based on the singer's sensations is purely empirical, in the meaning ordinarily attached to this word in treatises on Vocal Science. Theoretical works on the voice seldom touch on the subject of sensations, nor do the vocal teachers generally make this subject prominent when speaking of their methods. Lilli Lehmann, Meine Gesangskunst, Berlin, 1902.
"She is an Italian, Signora Petrucci; she used to be very handsome." "Oh!" said Goneril, looking pleased. "I'm glad she's handsome, and that they speak English. But they are not relations?" "No, they are not connected; they are friends." "And have they always lived together?" "Ever since Madame Lilli died," and Miss Hamelyn named a very celebrated singer.
They talked, too, of Madame Lilli; and always as if she were still young and fair, as if she had died yesterday, leaving the echo of her triumph loud behind her. And yet all this had happened years before Goneril had ever seen the light. "Mees Goneril is feeling very young!" said the signorino, suddenly turning his sharp kind eyes upon her. "Yes," said Goneril, all confusion.
She noticed that the ladies treated Signore Graziano with the utmost reverence, even the positive Miss Prunty furling her opinions in deference to his gayest hint. They talked too of Madame Lilli, and always as if she were still young and fair, as if she had died yesterday, leaving the echo of her triumph loud behind her. And yet all this had happened years before Goneril had ever seen the light.
"Very nice, I'm sure," said Miss Hamelyn, greatly relieved; for she knew that Signor Graziano must be fifty. "We have known him," went on the old lady, "very nearly thirty years. He used to largely frequent the salon of our dear, our cherished Madame Lilli." The tears came into the old lady's eyes. No doubt those days seemed near and dear to her; she did not see the dust on those faded triumphs.
All honor, therefore, to the versatility of German singers, who, like Lilli Lehmann, for instance, can sing Norma and Isolde equally well. And still more honor to the German composers who have restored the true function of song. Everybody knows that in the popular songs, or folk songs, of all nations, including the Italian, the words are quite as important as the melody.
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