The celebrated German-born American soprano "Little Lotte" began her career with the Hamburg Opera in 1910. At first clumsy and inept, she quickly moved to important roles and in 1914 sang for the first time at the Vienna Court Opera. In 1914 Lehmann made the first of her over 500 recordings. Richard Strauss heard her sing as an understudy for the role of the Composer in his opera Ariadne auf Naxos and chose her to sing its world premier. Thereafter she sang premiers of other Strauss operas as well as Vienna premiers of Pucinni. Her total operatic roles numbered an astonishing 93!
During her years in Vienna Lehmann began to sing Lieder. Though she claimed later that she didn't do justice to this demanding art at this point of her development, her mastery has served as an inspiration for generations of singers.