Doris Soffel (born 12 May 1948, Hechingen, Germany) is a German mezzo-soprano.
Doris Soffel first played the violin, then switched to singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. She was member of the Stuttgart Opera ensemble from 1973 to 1982. Her international breakthrough was as Sesto in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito at the Royal Opera House, London in 1982. She sang Fricka in the Bayreuth Festival 1983 and was the only German coloratura mezzo with an international career, singing in works by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini. She sang world premieres by contemporary composers like Aribert Reimann and Krysztof Penderecki and had performances worldwide of Gustav Mahler's vocal works. From 1994, more dramatic roles like Judith in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo and Amneris in his Aïda. Since 1999 she belongs to the most important interpreters of operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss (e.g. Ortrud, Kundry, Fricka, Herodias and Amme). In 2007 she sang the female principal part (Marfa) in the Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina in Munich. She appears on about 60 CDs and several DVDs.
Doris Soffel was awarded the title Kammersängerin and holds the Royal Swedish Order of Northern Star.
Repertoire
editOpera
| Composer | Opera | Part |
|---|---|---|
| Béla Bartók | A Kékszakállú herceg vára (Bluebeard's Castle) | Judit |
| Vincenzo Bellini | Norma | Adalgisa |
| Alban Berg | Lulu | Gräfin Geschwitz |
| Hector Berlioz | Les Troyens | Didon |
| Georges Bizet | Carmen | Carmen |
| Francesco Cilea | Adriana Lecouvreur | La Principessa di Bouillon |
| Gaetano Donizetti | Anna Bolena | Giovanna di Seymour |
| La Favorita | Leonora di Guzman | |
| Maria Stuarda | Elisabetta | |
| Antonín Dvořák | Rusalka | Hexe Jezibaba |
| Friedrich von Flotow | Martha oder Der Markt zu Richmond | Nancy |
| Christoph Willibald Gluck | Orfeo ed Euridice | Orfeo |
| George Frideric Handel | Hercules | Dejanira |
| Leoš Janáček | Káta Kabanová | Kabanicha |
| Pietro Mascagni | Cavalleria rusticana | Santuzza |
| Jules Massenet | Hérodiade | Hérodiade |
| Werther | Charlotte | |
| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Così fan tutte | Dorabella |
| La Clemenza di Tito | Sesto | |
| Die Zauberflöte | Zweite Dame | |
| Modest Mussorgsky | Boris Godunow | Marina Mnisek |
| Chowantschina | Marfa | |
| Krzysztof Penderecki | Ubu Rex | Mère Ubu |
| Amilcare Ponchielli | La Gioconda | Laura Adorno |
| Francis Poulenc | Dialogues des Carmelites | Madame de Croissy |
| Aribert Reimann | Troades | Kassandra |
| Gioachino Rossini | Cenerentola | Angelina |
| Il Barbiere di Siviglia | Rosina | |
| L'Italiana in Algeri | Isabella | |
| Mosè in Egitto | Sinaide | |
| Camille Saint-Saëns | Samson et Dalila | Dalila |
| Othmar Schoeck | Penthesilea | Penthesilea |
| Louis Spohr | Jessonda | Amazili |
| Johann Strauss | Die Fledermaus | Prinz Orlofsky |
| Richard Strauss | Elektra | Klytämnestra |
| Ariadne auf Naxos | Der Komponist | |
| Capriccio | Clairon | |
| Die Frau ohne Schatten | Die Amme | |
| Der Rosenkavalier | Octavian | |
| Salome | Herodias | |
| Igor Stravinsky | Oedipus Rex | Jocaste |
| Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Orleanskaja Deva | Jeanne d'Arc |
| Pique Dame | Gräfin | |
| Giuseppe Verdi | Aida | Amneris |
| Don Carlos | Eboli | |
| Un ballo in Maschera | Ulrika | |
| Il Trovatore | Azucena | |
| Richard Wagner | Götterdämmerung | Waltraute |
| Lohengrin | Ortrud | |
| Parsifal | Kundry | |
| Das Rheingold | Fricka | |
| Rienzi: Der letzte der Tribunen | Adriano | |
| Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg | Venus | |
| Tristan und Isolde | Brangäne | |
| Die Walküre | Fricka | |
| Hugo Wolf | Der Corregidor | Frasquita |
| Alexander Zemlinsky | Eine Florentinische Tragödie | Bianca |
-
Doris Soffel -
Kundry in Parsifal -
Amme in Frau ohne Schatten
Concerts
| Johann Sebastian Bach | Passionen und Oratorien | Mezzo |
| Ludwig van Beethoven | Missa solemnis D-dur op.123 | Mezzo |
| Symphonie No. 9 | Alto | |
| Hector Berlioz | Mort de Cleopâtre | Mezzo |
| Nuits d´été | Mezzo | |
| Damnation de Faust | Marguerite | |
| Johannes Brahms | Lieder Brahms | Mezzo |
| Anton Bruckner | Mass No. 3 in F minor | Alto |
| Joseph Haydn | Harmoniemesse B-dur Hob.XXII:13 | Alto |
| Heiligmesse B-dur Hob XXII:10 | Alto | |
| Missa Sanctae Caeciliae C-dur | Alto | |
| Karl Amadeus Hartmann | Symphonie 1 Versuch eines Requiem (on texts by Walt Whitman) | Alto |
| Gustav Mahler | Das Lied von der Erde | Mezzo |
| Kindertotenlieder | Mezzo | |
| Sinfonie Nr.2 c-moll (Auferstehung) | Alto | |
| Sinfonie Nr.8 Es-dur (Sinf.der Tausend) | Alto | |
| Symphonie No. 3 | Mezzo | |
| Rückert-Lieder | Mezzo | |
| Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen | Mezzo | |
| Hermann Reutter | Lieder | Mezzo |
| Franz Schubert | Lieder und Liederzyklen | Mezzo |
| Erwin Schulhoff | Landschaften/Menschheit | Mezzo |
| Robert Schumann | Lieder und Liederzyklen | Mezzo |
| Arnold Schoenberg | Gurrelieder | Waldtaube |
| Wolfgang von Schweinitz | Liederzyklus "Papiersterne" | Mezzo |
| Alexander Scriabin | Symphonie Nr. 1 E-Dur | Mezzo |
| Richard Strauss | Lieder und Liederzyklen | Mezzo |
| Giuseppe Verdi | Requiem | Mezzo |
| Richard Wagner | Wesendonk-Lieder | Mezzo |
| Alexander Zemlinsky | Maeterlink Orchesterlieder | Mezzo |