14 Facts About Lys Symonette

When Lenya died, in 1981, Lys Symonette was appointed vice-president of the Kurt Weill Foundation, serving as its "musical executive".

Lys Symonette's mother, born Gertrude Metzger, was a committed singer who, as a contralto, gave recitals not just in her home city but in Frankfurt and Gotha.

Lys Symonette attended the "Linkenbach" private school and then, between 1924 and 1934, the Hohere Madchenschule in Mainz.

Lys Symonette passed her school final exams in 1934.

Lys Symonette had not excelled particularly at mathematics and the sciences, but at the Senior School she had obtained top marks in singing and shown herself to be more than competent as a pianist.

Lys Symonette received a stipendium which funded her studies and covered her living expenses.

Lys Symonette evidently had an intense understanding of the singular singing style that Weill's music invited and, she would have insisted, needed.

Randolph and Lys Symonette now relocated to West Germany where Randolph Symonette appeared in various major opera houses, focusing on some of the large-voice Wagner roles.

Lys Symonette appeared with Weill's widow, Lotte Lenya at the Theatre de Lys Symonette, accompanying the singer in Gene Frankel's production, Brecht on Brecht.

Lys Symonette persuaded Lenya to allow her to hand over a fat pile of unpublished Kurt Weill songs to Teresa Stratas which led to the publication of numerous songs that otherwise would have been lost to posterity including, most notably, "Youkali".

Preparation of the opera had been dogged by artistic and legal disagreement, and Lys Symonette reprised her role as "musical representative" of Lotte Lenya for rehearsals and performances.

Additionally, in 1974 Lys Symonette returned to the Curtis Institute, now as a voice coach.

Lys Symonette had been ill for several years, undergoing surgery in 1977 and again in 1978, and initially avoided the implications of her failing health for her late husband's artistic legacy.

Lys Symonette suffered a fatal heart attack at Windsor, New York, less than a month before what would have been her ninety-first birthday.