«Alles zergeht, wie Dunst und Traum». Lotte Lehmann interprete della Marschallin

Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976) has been one of the most distinguished singers of her generation, specializing in particular in the Wagnerian and Straussian operatic repertoire. Lehmann first appeared as the Marschallin at Covent Garden in 1924, under the baton of Bruno Walter. This event can be considered as a breaking point in her artistic life, marking the starting point of an international career throughout which Lehmann never ceased to sing the Straussian role. As a result, a complex relationship was engendered, linking the singer to that role and vice versa. This article aims to reconstruct the main characteristics of Lehmann's interpretive model for the Marschallin through the analysis of the singer's writings and of the audio-visual materials related to her performances of the role. Moreover, a comparison between Lehmann's model and the cultural "traditions" embodied bu the character of Marie Thérèse according to Hofmannsthal and Strauss' conception will highlight some phenomena related to the US reception of both the singer and the composer.