Fritz Lehmann

Fritz Lehmann (17 May 1904 – 30 March 1956) was a noted German conductor, whose career was cut short by his early death at the age of 51. His repertoire ranged from the Baroque through to contemporary works, in both the concert hall and the opera house. He was an early advocate of period performance practice. and founded the Berliner Motettenchor. He is best known through a number of recordings he left.

Fritz Ludwig Lehmann was born in Mannheim, the son of an organist and choirmaster. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik there from 1918 to 1921, and at the Universities of Heidelberg and Göttingen. He made his professional debut as a pianist in 1918.

He conducted at Göttingen (1923-1927), firstly as choirmaster and later as conductor of the Municipal Theatre. In Essen he was head of the classes for opera and orchestra at the Folkwangschule. He also conducted in Hildesheim and Hanover until 1938. In 1934 he became conductor of the Göttingen International Handel Festival,where he conducted the first modern production of Handel's Tolomeo, on 19 June 1938. He resigned after conflict with the Nazi authorities in 1944.

Lehmann was Generalmusikdirektor in Bad Pyrmont (1934-1938), and Wuppertal (1938-1947). He returned to the Göttingen International Handel Festival in 1946, remaining there until 1953. On 29 June 1947 he led the first modern production of Handel's Teseo.

Recording 6 cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach he conducted the Berliner Motettenchor (Berlin Motet Choir), a 1949 by Günther Arndt founded mixed youth choir, with the Berlin Philharmonic and soloists including Helmut Krebs and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who also appeared in his 1949 recording of the St Matthew Passion for Les Discophiles Français, as the Evangelist and Vox Christi (voice of Christ).

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