Personal History
Moser was born in Berlin, Germany, she is the daughter of the musicologist Hans Joachim Moser. She studied at the Berlin Conservatory with Hermann Weissenborn and Gerty König and made her debut as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Berlin Städtische Oper in 1962. After singing in the Wurzburg Opera Chorus from 1962 until 1963, she sang at the opera houses in Hagen, Bielefeld, Hamburg and Frankfurt, before joining the Vienna State Opera in 1971. She also sang in Salzburg.
She made her American debut in November 1968, when she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, in the role of Wellgunde in Das Rheingold. She went on to sing various roles there over nine seasons, including the parts of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and the Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), both by Mozart, as well as Liu in Puccini's Turandot.
She maintained an extensive repertoire, singing both dramatic coloratura and lirico spinto roles. She played Donna Anna in Joseph Losey's movie of Don Giovanni. She was one of the original performers of Hans Werner Henze's oratorio Das Floß der Medusa which she created on disc because the intended premiere in Hamburg was cancelled after a classical music riot.
Opera News has said, in a review of a series of recordings made in the 1980s, that Moser could sing with a "finely controlled" legato."
After retiring from opera, Edda Moser remained active as a recitalist during the late 1990s. She gave several concerts in Germany with Ivan Törzs at the piano (Dresden, Semper Opera House 1997, Stadttheater Giessen 1999) with programs ranging from Johann Adolph Hasse to Clara Schumann and Richard Strauss. She gave her farewell performance in Munich in 1999 at the Cuvilliés Theatre.
Currently, Edda Moser is involved in promoting the use of proper German instead of Denglisch. In 2006 she founded the yearly Festspiel der Deutschen Sprache. Three CDs documenting this festival have appeared thus far at the German publishing house Edition Lübbe. She is also a professor of singing at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
A recording by Moser of "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" from Die Zauberflöte was included on Voyager 1's Golden Record.
Read more about this topic: Edda Moser
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