100 Singers - EDITH MATHIS

Edith Mathis, Soprano (1938-2025) Johannes Brahms EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM V. Soprano: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit Conductor: Rafael Kubelik Recorded: September 1978 My personal opinion: Some artists are indispensable for a collection of "Great Voices", and Swiss born Edith Mathis is one of them. As a leading lyric Mozart and oratorio soprano, it seems to me she was incomparable in the succession of Maria Stader, Elisabeth Grümmer and Irmgard Seefried. Edith Mathis managed her own career with great responsibility: "For me, concerts are very important. Why should I scream in big theatres? With this false ambition, I couldn't sing any longer the ST. MATTHEW PASSION!" Edith Mathis has made hundreds of recordings, reflecting her extensive Lieder, oratorio and opera repertory. With the grace and beauty of her almost chaste but expressive voice, Edith Mathis is the female counterpart to Peter Schreier, with whom she had often sung together. It might be, that in Brahm's DEUTSCHES REQUIEM, Gundula Janowitz had the more exuberant voice, but Mathis sang with clearer pronunciation. Haunting and yet not intrusive her outstanding rendition of Schumann's Lieder cycle FRAUENLIEBE UND -LEBEN. I prefer this recording even to the version of Kathleen Ferrier (and after Mathis, only the wonderful Barbara Bonney gave an equally soulful performance). In the realm of baroque music, Edith Mathis always was a subtle artist (Bach, Haydn and Mozart were the most important composers in her career), but she always understood, to succeed also in the opposite spectrum: She sang in premières of works by Henze, Suthermeister, von Einem and in Menotti's weird alien-opera HELP, HELP, THE GLOBOLINKS (btw: It was the very first opera I ever saw when I was a child). An impressive varied repertoire! Back to Mozart, her very own specialty. She was Susanna in the legendary recording of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO and Ilias in IDOMENEO, both under Karl Böhm. As Ilias she is softer than Rothenberger in the 1971 Dresden production under Schmidt-Isserstedt. Mathis' Susanna in NOZZE is tamer than Freni, Söderström and Popp. Mathis' is almost a little bit too shy, and sometimes I miss necessary piquancy (a base element in all Mozart operas, and especially in the duets between Zerlina and Masetto), but to say so is already carping. The problem in the DON GIOVANNI live recording with a masculine Sherill Milnes is not Mathis' chastity, the problem is Masetto itself: Horrible "sung" by a third-class Dale Duesing. The soprano seemed more suited for the pure-hearted Pamina in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, a role she recorded late under Karajan around 1980 (with Araiza as Tamino). Nine years earlier, she was a more fresh Pamina in a TV movie with Gedda as Tamino, directed by Peter Ustinov. Only rarely Edith Mathis went to her own vocal borderlines. A german critic recognized: "Her voice is something for all those, who love, what is lyrical and quiet in music. She is not a dramatic or an eccentric singer. In a positive sense, she is an introverted artist." Edith Mathis has been a "Bayerische Kammersängerin" since 1979. She lived in Switzerland and was married to conductor Bernhard Klee, with whom she has often appeared in recitals. She died February 2025, age 86.