Episode 285. Edda Moser Reappraised
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Lately I have been doing a series of episodes on artists that in my opinion deserve a reassessment, a second glance, if you will. Edda Moser is almost universally regarded as the “best” Queen of the Night that ever walked the earth. Certainly she is the most ominous and menacing, as well as the most monumental of voice and delivery. But there is a false narrative surrounding Frau Moser that over the course of her career, she lost control of her voice and pursued a repertoire that destroyed her voice. In this episode, I plead exactly the opposite: that Moser moved naturally and with dedicated assurance into the heavier roles of Strauss and Wagner, and that her voice from its origins displayed affinity for these more dramatic parts. Some of Edda Moser’s earliest successes were in the stratospheric vocal compositions of Hans Werner Henze, in which she displayed a fearless and limitless virtuosity. During her long career, her roles spanned nearly the entire range of the soprano repertoire, everything from her supreme Mozart characterizations to Hanna Glawari to Nedda to Iphigénie to Senta to Salome. Recently, some late-career live recordings of Edda Moser have appeared on the landscape, and instead of recycling one of my two previous Moser episodes, I have selected choice tidbits from these recordings, as well as more readily available material, that show Moser in all facets of her artistry, focusing on the epic, perhaps, but not overlooking her delicacy, sensitivity, pathos, charm, and delicious sense of humor. Guest singers heard on the episode include some of the finest baritones active during this period, including Siegmund Nimsgern, Hermann Prey, Gerd Feldhoff, Claudio Nicolai, and Robert Hale. Conductors include Heinrich Hollreiser, Riccardo Muti, Herbert Blomstedt, Lovro von Matačić, Christoph von Dohnányi, Kent Nagano, and many others. Give this episode a listen and may find yourself agreeing with me that she is one of the supreme classical vocalists of the twentieth century.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Emanuel Schickaneder: Unglückliche Tochter!… Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (Die Zauberflöte). Edda Moser, Peter Maag, Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live New York 23.XII.72]
Richard Wagner: Dich teure Halle (Tannhäuser). Edda Moser, Peter Schneider, Münchner Rundfunk Orchester [1985]
Hans Werner Henze, Ingeborg Bachmann: Wohin wir uns wenden im Gewitter der Rosen [Aria I] (Nachtstücke und Arien). Edda Moser, Christoph von Dohnányi, Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Köln [1968]
George Frideric Handel, Nicola Francesco Haym: Chiudetevi miei lumi (Admeto). Edda Moser, Jean-Claude Malgoire, La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy [1985]
Franz Lehár, Viktor Léon, Leo Stein: Heia, Mädel, aufgeschaut… Dummer, dummer Reitersmann (Die lustige Witwe). Edda Moser, Claudio Nicolai, Lovro von Matačić, Zagreb Tamburitze Ensemble [Milano 25.I.80]
Ruggero Leoncavallo: Qual fiamma avea nel guardo… Stridono lassù (Pagliacci). Edda Moser, Bruno Weil, Pfälzische Philharmonie [1981]
Ludwig Van Beethoven, Joseph Sonnleithner [after Jean-Nicolas Bouilly]: Komm, Hoffnung… Ich folg’ dem innern Triebe (Leonore). Edda Moser, Herbert Blomstedt, Staatskapelle Dresden [1975]
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Nicolas François Guillard [after Euripedes]: Ô malheureuse Iphigénie! (Iphigénie en Tauride). Edda Moser, Riccardo Muti, Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino [live Firenze IV.81]
Richard Strauss, Hermann Hesse: Frühling (Vier letzte Lieder). Edda Moser, Milan Horvat, ORF Sinfonieorchester [live Wien 01.X.1974]
Richard Strauss, Heinrich Heine: Frühlingsfeier, Op. 56/5. Edda Moser, Irwin Gage [1980]
Richard Strauss, Clemens von Brentano: Als mir dein Lied erklang (Brentano-Lieder, Op. 68/4). Edda Moser, Irwin Gage [live Paris 07.X.79]
Richard Strauss, Oscar Wilde [German translation by Hedwig Lachmann]: Jochanaan! Ich bin verliebt in deinen Leib (Salome). Edda Moser, Siegmund Nimsgern, Jean Dupouy, Kent Nagano, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris [live Paris 17.V.86]
Richard Strauss, Hugo von Hofmannsthal [after Sophocles]: Orest! Es rührt sich niemand (Elektra). Edda Moser, Gerd Feldhoff, Ivan Törzs, Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin [live Schwerin XII.95]
Richard Wagner: Versank ich jetzt in wunderbares Träumen?… Wohl kenn ich Weibes heil’ge Pflichten (Der fliegende Holländer). Edda Moser, Robert Hale, Heinrich Hollreiser, Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin [live Berlin 15.I.1993]
Engelbert Humperdinck, Adelheid Wette [after Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm]: Doch erst muss mir die Gretel dran… Hurr, hopp, hopp, hopp! (Hänsel und Gretel). Edda Moser, Heinz Wallberg, Gürzenich Orchester Köln [1974]
Eugen d’Albert, August Ernst von Steigentesch: Ich hörte singen… Sei zärtlich, lieber Mann (Die Abreise). Edda Moser, Hermann Prey, Janos Kulka, Philharmonia Hungarica [1978]
