Edith Mathis

Edith Mathis (; 11 February 19389 February 2025) was a Swiss soprano known for her roles in Mozart's operas. Early in her career, Cherubino in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' was her signature role that she performed at debuts at several opera houses and festivals in Europe. Later, she portrayed Susanna in the same opera, Zerlina in ''Don Giovanni'' and Pamina in ''Die Zauberflöte''. She took part in premieres of operas, Henze's ''Der junge Lord'' and works by Gottfried von Einem, Menotti and Heinrich Sutermeister. Based at Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1963 to 1971, she was in demand internationally, also as a singer of Lied and in concert.

Mathis recorded operas, symphonies by Gustav Mahler and oratorios with the leading conductors of her time. She recorded many of Bach's church cantatas in Karl Richter's cycle, and Lieder by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf. From 1992, she taught Lied interpretation at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and in master classes.

Career

Edith Mathis was born in Lucerne on 11 February 1938. She was determined from a young age to become a singer, inspired by listening to recordings and broadcasts with Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas. She studied voice at the Lucerne Conservatory with Elisabeth Bossart. She made her operatic debut at the in 1956 as the Second Boy in Mozart's ''Die Zauberflöte''. Good reviews helped her get an invitation to perform as Cherubino in Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'' at the Opernhaus Zürich. She continued gaining stage experience in Switzerland for the next three years. In 1959 she moved to the Cologne Opera, where Wolfgang Sawallisch was then musical director. Her roles there included Cherubino and Zerlina in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni''.

She appeared regularly at the Salzburg Festival from 1960. In the early 1960s she made frequent guest appearances, often as Cherubino, at the Hamburg State Opera in 1960, at the Vienna State Opera in 1962, and at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1963. She became a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin that year, and performed as Cherubino with the company in Tokyo. She appeared in Berlin first as Zerlina, and was compared to Audrey Hepburn as she "embodied this ideal of girlish, at once high-spirited and vulnerable innocence visually, with large dark eyes, short dark hair and delicate appearance". She portrayed other young women "with unaffected elegance": Susanna in ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Sophie in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss, Ännchen in Weber's ''Der Freischütz'' and Pamina in ''Die Zauberflöte'', the latter with "touching sadness". She became a favourite with the audience, and remained at the house until 1971.

In 1964 she performed at the Hamburg State Opera in the world premiere of Gottfried von Einem's ' after Nestroy. In more premieres, she appeared in Berlin as Luise in Henze's ''Der junge Lord'' in 1965, and portrayed the girl Emily in Menotti's '' Hilfe, Hilfe, die Globolinks'' in Hamburg in 1968.

She had guest contracts with Hamburg, Oper Frankfurt and the Bavarian State Opera. Her first role in Munich was Pamina in ''Die Zauberflöte'' in 1970 as part of the opera festival. She returned regularly, also as Susanna in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' and Zerlina in ''Don Giovanni'', Marzelline in Beethoven's ''Fidelio'', the Countess in ''Figaro'', as Zdenka in Arabella by Richard Strauss, and as Mélisande in Debussy's ''Pelleas''. She took part there, as Queen Marie, in the world premiere of Heinrich Sutermeister's ''Le roi Berénger'' after Ionesco in 1985.

Between 1970 and 1972 she performed 25 times at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, as Pamina in ''Die Zauberflöte'', Marzelline in ''Fidelio'', Ännchen in ''Der Freischütz'' and Zerlina in ''Don Giovanni''. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House in London in 1970. In the 1970s she appeared in more major European opera houses including the Opéra de Paris. She performed at the Vienna State Opera, after Cherubino, also as Zerlina in ''Don Giovanni'' between 1972 and 1985, Sophie in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss, Susanna in ''Figaro'' between 1976 and 1986, and Pamina. Throughout her career, Mathis remained within her lyric soprano range, expanding her repertoire by Agathe in ''Der Freischütz'' and the Marschallin in ''Der Rosenkavalier''. She retired from the stage in 2001.

In addition to her operatic career, Mathis made numerous international concert tours in Lieder recitals. Singing Lieder, she was focused on the texts and their settings, serving the poet and the composer. Mathis led a Lied class as a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna from 1992 to 2006. She gave master classes in Europe, Asia and the US. One of her students was Diana Damrau.

" Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto", a duet from ''Le nozze di Figaro'' that she performed with Gundula Janowitz

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