Obituary,
Edith Mathis (1938-2025)
Born in Lucerne in 1938, Mathis studied in her home city, where she made her operatic debut as Zweite Knabe in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in 1956 before going on to join the ensemble at Cologne Opera. During the early 1960s she guested regularly in Hamburg, appeared in concert at the Salzburg Festival, and debuted at Glyndebourne as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (opposite Mirella Freni’s Susanna). She also took part in the premieres of a number of new works, creating the roles of Kathi in Gottfried von Einem’s Der Zerrissene (1964), Luise in Hans Werner Henze’s Der junge Lord (1965), and Emily in Menotti’s Help, help the Globolinks! (1968).
Mathis’s clear, elegantly deployed light lyric soprano lent itself especially well to Mozart’s operas and concert-works, which she had loved since she was a young girl; she made her first appearance at Covent Garden as Susanna in 1970, and debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Pamina later that year.
Her extensive discography includes benchmark recordings of Die Zauberflöte with Herbert von Karajan, the Coronation Mass with Peter Schreier, and Le nozze di Figaro with Karl Böhm. The duet 'Sull’aria' from the latter recording (with Gundula Janowitz as the Countess) was used in a pivotal scene of the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, when the incarcerated hero Andy Dufresne plays the track over the jail’s PA system to lift the spirits of the prisoners: the film’s narrator (played by Morgan Freeman) reflects that ‘those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream’.
Mathis’s operatic repertoire beyond Mozart included Ännchen in Weber’s Der Freischütz, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier (which she sang at Glyndebourne and later recorded for Böhm), Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio, Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff and Debussy’s Mélisande. Later in her career, she made occasional successful excursions into slightly heavier roles (often in operas where she had previously played the soubrette), singing Agathe in Der Freischütz in Barcelona in 1986 and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier for Berne City Opera in 1990.
Also a fine recitalist, her song discography includes an appearance on Graham Johnson’s venerable Schubert series for Hyperion, a live recording of Lieder by Mozart, Bartók, Brahms, Schumann and Strauss from the 1975 Lucerne Festival, and Brahms’s Liebeslieder-Walzer from Salzburg in 1974 (with Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Schreier and Walter Berry).
In the latter part of her career Mathis established a fine reputation as a coach, working with young singers at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna and the Ravinia Festival – in a 1992 interview with American broadcaster Bruce Duffie she clarified ‘I just teach interpretation. I don’t like to teach technique. I think that’s the most difficult thing on Earth.’ Her awards and honours included the title of Bayerische Kammersängerin (which was bestowed on her in 1980), the Mozart Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation, and the Hans-Reinhard-Ring from the Swiss Society for Theater.
Mathis died at home in Switzerland on 9th February, two days before her 87th birthday. She is survived by her husband, the pianist and conductor Bernhard Klee.
Edith Mathis - a selected discography
Hermann Prey (Figaro), Edith Mathis (Susanna), Gundula Janowitz (Contessa Almaviva), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Conte Almaviva), Tatiana Troyanos (Cherubino), Patricia Johnson (Marcellina), Peter Lagger (Bartolo), Erwin Wohlfahrt (Basilio)
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Karl Böhm
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Francisco Araiza (Tamino), Jose van Dam (Sarastro), Edith Mathis (Pamina), Gottfried Hornik (Papageno), Karin Ott (Königin der Nacht), Heinz Kruse (Monostatos), Janet Perry (Papagena), Volker Horn (Erste Geharnischter), Victor von Halem (Zweite Geharnischter), Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, Hanna Schwarz (Drei Damen)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Herbert von Karajan
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Wiesław Ochman (Idomeneo), Edith Mathis (Ilia), Julia Varady (Elettra), Peter Schreier (Idamante), Hermann Winkler (Arbace), Eberhard Büchner (Gran Sacerdote), Siegfried Vogel (La Voce di Nettuno)
Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Staatskapelle Dresden, Karl Böhm
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Edith Mathis (soprano), Staatskapelle Dresden, Dresdner Kapellknaben, Bernhard Klee
Available Format: CD
Edith Mathis (soprano), Aldo Baldin (tenor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Edith Mathis (soprano), Siegfried Jerusalem (tenor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner
Available Formats: 2 Presto CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Gwyneth Jones (Leonore), James King (Florestan), Edith Mathis (Marzelline), Theo Adam (Pizarro), Peter Schreier (Jaquino), Franz Crass (Rocco), Martti Talvela (Don Fernando)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Chor der Staatsoper Dresden, Karl Böhm
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Gundula Janowitz (Agathe), Edith Mathis (Ännchen), Peter Schreier (Max), Theo Adam (Kaspar), Franz Crass (Hermit), Siegfried Vogel (Kuno), Bernd Weikl (Ottokar), Günther Leib (Kilian), Gerhard Paul (Zamiel)
Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Carlos Kleiber
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Christa Ludwig (Marschallin), Tatiana Troyanos (Octavian), Edith Mathis (Sophie), Theo Adam (Ochs), Otto Wiener (Faninal), Gerhard Unger (Valzacchi), Cvetka Ahlin (Annina), Anton De Ridder (Italian Singer)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Karl Böhm
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Edith Mathis (soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Edith Mathis (soprano), Karl Engel (piano)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Schumann: Spanische Liederspiel & Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer
Salzburger Festspiele, 25th August 1974
Edith Mathis (soprano), Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo), Peter Schreier (tenor), Walter Berry (baritone), Paul Schilhawsky (piano), Erik Werba (piano)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
