Lotte Lenya | |
|---|---|
 1962 photograph | |
| Born | Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer (1898-10-18)18 October 1898 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 27 November 1981(1981-11-27) (aged 83) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1922–1980 |
| Spouses | |
Lotte Lenya (bornKaroline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was anAustrian-American singer,diseuse,[1] and actress, long based in the United States.[2] In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her first husband,Kurt Weill. In English-language cinema, she was nominated for anAcademy Award for her role as a jaded aristocrat inThe Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961). She also played the murderous and sadisticRosa Klebb in theJames Bond movieFrom Russia with Love (1963).
In 1922, Lenya was seen by her future husband, German-Jewish composerKurt Weill, during an audition for his first stage scoreZaubernacht, but because of his position behind the piano, she did not see him. She was cast, but owing to her loyalty to her voice coach, she declined the role. She accepted the part of Jenny in the first performance ofThe Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) in 1928, and the part became her breakthrough role. During the last years of theWeimar Republic, she was busy in film and theatre, and especially inBrecht-Weill plays. She made several recordings of Weill's songs.[3][Note 1]
With the rise ofNazism in Germany, many artists were not appreciated, and although not Jewish, she left the country, having become estranged from Weill. (They would later divorce and get married again.) In March 1933, she moved to Paris, where she sang the leading part in Brecht-Weill's "sung ballet",The Seven Deadly Sins.[5]
Lenya and Weill settled in New York City on 10 September 1935.[6] During the summer of 1936, Weill, Lenya,Paul Green, andCheryl Crawford rented a house at 277 Trumbull Avenue inNichols, Connecticut, about 2 miles (3.2 km) fromPine Brook Country Club, the summer rehearsal headquarters of theGroup Theatre.[7][8] Here, Green and Weill wrote the script and music for the controversial Broadway playJohnny Johnson, which was titled after the most frequently occurring name on the American casualty list of World War I. During this period, Lenya had a love affair with playwright Paul Green.[9][10]
During World War II, Lenya did a number of stage performances, recordings, and radio performances, including for theVoice of America. After a badly received part in her husband'smusicalThe Firebrand of Florence in 1945 in New York, she withdrew from the stage.[11] After Weill's death in 1950, she was coaxed back to the stage. She appeared onBroadway inBarefoot in Athens and married editorGeorge Davis.[11]
In 1956, she won aTony Award for her role as Jenny inMarc Blitzstein's English version ofThe Threepenny Opera, the only time anoff-Broadway performance has been so honored. Lenya went on to record a number of songs from her time in Berlin, as well as songs from the American stage. Her voice had deepened with age. When she was to sing thesoprano parts inRise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny andThe Seven Deadly Sins, the music neededtransposition to substantially lower keys.[11]
Sprechstimme was used in some famous songs in the Brecht-Weill plays, but now Lenya used it even more to compensate for the shortcomings of her voice. Lenya was aware of this as a problem; in other contexts, she was very careful about fully respecting her late husband'sscore.[11][12][13]
She founded the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music,[14] to administer incomes and issues regarding rights, and to spread knowledge about Weill's work.[13] She was present in the studio whenLouis Armstrong recorded Brecht-Weill's "Mack the Knife". Armstrong improvised the line "Look out for Miss Lotte Lenya!" and added her name to the list of Mack's female conquests in the song.[15]
She narratedGeorge Grosz' Interregnum, a film about the artistGeorge Grosz that was nominated for anAcademy Award forBest Documentary Short in 1960.[16][17]
Her role asVivien Leigh's earthy friend Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales in the screen version ofTennessee Williams'The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) brought Lenya Academy Award andGolden Globe nominations asBest Supporting Actress. In 1963, she was cast as theSMERSH agentRosa Klebb in the James Bond movieFrom Russia with Love starringSean Connery andRobert Shaw.
In 1966, Lenya originated the role ofFräulein Schneider in the originalBroadway cast of the musicalCabaret.[12][18]Kander and Ebb's score was considered by some to be inspired by Weill's music. In 1979, two years before her death, Lotte Lenya was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.[19]
Lenya was born to Catholicworking-class parents in Vienna.[20] She went toZürich to study in 1914, taking her first job at theSchauspielhaus, using the stage name Lotte Lenja. She moved to Berlin to seek work in 1921.[citation needed]
Lenya and Weill did not meet properly until 1924 through a mutual acquaintance, the writerGeorg Kaiser. They married in 1926, and later divorced in 1933, only to reconcile in September 1935 after emigrating to the United States. They remarried in 1937. During and between their marriages, she had numerous lovers, includingMax Ernst,Paul Green, andTilly Losch.[21] In 1941, the couple moved to a house of their own inNew City, New York, roughly 50 km north of New York City. Their second marriage lasted until Weill's death in 1950.[12]
Lenya's second husband (1951–57) was American editorGeorge Davis, who was homosexual.[22] After Davis' death in 1957, she married artist Russell Detwiler in 1962, who was homosexual as well. He was 26 years her junior and a heavy alcoholic, but she was widowed for a third time when Detwiler died at the age of 44 in 1969 as the result of a fall from an alcoholic seizure. He was interred on their seventh wedding anniversary.[21] On June 9, 1971, she married critic and TV producerRichard Siemanowski, but separated from him only two years later, never having lived with him.[12]
Lenya died in Manhattan ofcancer in 1981, aged 83. She is buried next to Weill at Mount Repose Cemetery inHaverstraw, New York.[13]
In 1956,Louis Armstrong recorded the song "Mack the Knife", both as a solo number and as a duet with Lenya. Armstrong added Lenya's name into the lyrics, in place of one of the characters in the play.[15]Bobby Darin's 1959 hit recording of the song used these updated lyrics mentioning Lenya.
Donovan's 1968 song "Laléna" was inspired by Lenya.[23]
TheMichael Kunze playLenya is about Brecht's favorite singer, Lotte Lenya.[24]
In 2007, the musicalLoveMusik, based on Lenya's relationship with Weill, opened on Broadway. Lenya was portrayed byDonna Murphy.[18]
She is mentioned in theFascinating Aïda song "Lieder", which originally described her as German, but was corrected for later performances.[citation needed] She is referenced in theGavin Friday song "Dolls" from his 1995 albumShag Tobacco.[25]
TheLotte Lenya Competition recognizes young singers and actors who are dramatically and musically convincing in repertoire ranging from opera and operetta to contemporary Broadway scores, with a focus on the works ofKurt Weill.[26][27]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | The Threepenny Opera | Jenny Diver | |
| 1961 | The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone | Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales | |
| 1963 | From Russia with Love | Rosa Klebb | |
| 1965 | Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder | Mother Courage | TV movie |
| 1966 | Ten Blocks on the Camino Real | The Gypsy | TV movie |
| 1969 | The Appointment | Emma Valadier | |
| 1977 | Semi-Tough | Clara Pelf | |
| 1980 | Mahagonny | Voice, (final film role) |
