Michael Kater's illustrious career as a historian of the Third Reich has brought him renown in social, intellectual, and cultural history. Most notable in his recent work has been his voluminous output on the musical life of Nazi Germany in what he himself designated as a trilogy. Beginning with his 1992 study of jazz in Nazi Germany (Different Drummers), Kater then followed in 1997 with an impressive exploration of the practices and working circumstances of serious musicians (The Twisted Muse). The last of the trilogy, Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits (2000), turned much more to biographical detail, supplementing the case studies of a handful of composers already encountered in The Twisted Muse and subjecting them to a close scrutiny of their political and artistic engagement before, during, and after the years of the Third Reich.

With Never Sang for Hitler, Kater pursues this trend with a heavily documented, close scrutiny of the life, career, and historical circumstances of the famed opera singer Lotte Lehmann. Anything but a slavish hagiography, this work subjects Lehmann to a critical assessment of her talent as a singer, actress, teacher, and sometime author; her shrewdness, or lack thereof, in managing her career; and her behavior in personal affairs, including those of the extramarital sort. Kater remains true to his own high scholarly standards in doggedly pursuing any primary materials relevant to his subject, combing through roughly two dozen archival holdings in Europe and the United States, conducting interviews, and searching through contemporary reviews of performances and recordings. His historical insights also enrich the study, as he frequently takes the reader on side trips to explore the political, economic, and social conditions in which Lehmann worked at various points in her career. This makes the book an incredibly rich resource that will offer something of interest to a wide variety of readers, ranging from scholars of cultural history and gender studies to avid Lehmann admirers.

Despite the title's reference to Hitler, however, the reader intent solely on learning about her relationship to the Führer will have to plow halfway through the text before arriving at the pages dedicated to her dealings with Nazi officials, specifically Göring. Prior to that, we are privy to a detailed exposé of Lehmann's family, conservative petit-bourgeois upbringing, education, and personal and professional relationships, interwoven within a tapestry of local history and lucid analyses of contemporary musical life and politics. Here Kater offers fresh perspectives on influential musical figures, vivid accounts culled from contemporary music journalism, performers' own observations on contemporary music, and a long overdue examination of the role of the emerging recording industry in shaping tastes and musical careers. Above all, Kater keeps situating Lehmann within the uncertain economic and political vicissitudes of the 1920s and 1930s that constantly changed the rules for pursuing an artistic career. According to Kater, Lehmann's often questionable judgment in dealing with agents, impresarios, composers, rivals, and ultimately politicians placed unnecessary obstacles in her career path, and her incontestable musical and dramatic talents sometimes seem to be the only things saving her from professional self-destruction.

Nothing illustrates this better than her dealings with the new leaders of the Third Reich, an episode that inevitably colored her subsequent career by making her ever vigilant to perpetuate and continually polish her image as an opponent of National Socialism. Starting with an article she published in the 1960s, Kater lays out her almost absurd cloak-and-dagger account of her encounter with Göring, portraying herself as displaying foolhardy brazenness in dealing with dangerously eccentric characters. Kater then painstakingly reconstructs a more accurate account thanks to his discovery of previously unknown archival documents. We learn that Lehmann was actually quite eager to accept a contract with the Berlin State Opera, now under the authority of Göring as Prussian Prime Minister, but her greed got in the way. Her objections to a draft contract insulted Göring, leading to a withdrawal of the offer and her unsuccessful attempts to apologize and reopen the negotiations. Although she “never sang for Hitler,” we do learn that she sang for Mussolini, and such hobnobbing with dictators disappointed her Jewish friends, most notably Bruno Walter and his wife. Finding it increasingly unlikely that she could ever return to Germany, she set her sights on America and slowly cultivated an image that ranged from apolitical artist to outright resistance fighter.

The subsequent account of her life in the United States is no less engaging, as we learn of her experiences as an enemy alien, her displays of patriotism, and, in the last phases of her life, her move to the West Coast with her new life partner, a wealthy female academic and long-time fan of the singer. Here we are given yet another new insight into the cultural landscape in 1950s and 1960s America, when—unlike now—opera singers could find success in film and on network television (Lehmann even landed on the cover of Time magazine). As her performing career waned, her influence did not: she wrote a novel, an autobiography, and two books on singing; helped to found a music conservatory; and tried her hand at directing opera productions.

This study is a fine example of Kater's exhaustive research, thus it is regrettable that—undoubtedly due to space limitations—it not only lacks a bibliography but also furnishes footnotes full of cryptic abbreviations. Determining the name of the archive that held the explosive evidence of Lehmann's brush with Göring required nothing short of a scavenger hunt for this reviewer. And while this book has the potential to be a goldmine for readers with a wide variety of interests, the book's organization requires some sifting depending on one's purposes. Nevertheless, it not only rivals the type of research-driven tour de force we have come to expect of Kater, but it is also a labor of love. There is no way for the author to hide his admiration for Lehmann's talent, his wonder at her larger-than-life persona, and even at times his disappointment in her professional and personal choices. Kater has once again managed to amaze us, and we can only await with eager anticipation his next magnum opus.