Kurt Moll

Kurt Moll (11 April 19385 March 2017) Hans Sachs, nor Wotan. His interpretations tended to be restrained and intelligent, even in comedic roles like Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Baron Ochs in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.

Career Moll was born in Buir, near Cologne, Germany.

He made his American debut with the San Francisco Opera as Gurnemanz in Wagner's Parsifal in 1974, a role he reprised with the company in 2000. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on the opening night of the 1977–78 season, appearing as the Landgrave in Wagner's Tannhäuser. He also sang there as Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio and Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto.

He made many recordings of opera, sacred music, Charpentier's Te deum H.146, Magnificat H.74 in 1990 with Neville Mariner and lieder. Moll can be heard as Ochs in seven complete recordings of Der Rosenkavalier, as Sarastro in six recordings of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, as Marke in six sets of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, and as the Archangel Raphael in three recordings of Haydn's Die Schöpfung. His recording for the Orfeo label of Schubert's philosophical "Lieder für Bass" set a new standard for these songs; he also recorded Schubert's song-cycle Winterreise, and an album of dramatic/heroic ballads by Carl Loewe. Besides German, Italian, and Latin, he recorded a few roles in Russian, including Pimen in Boris Godunov and the Old Convict in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich. He can be seen in many roles on commercial video, including Sarastro (twice), Osmin, the Commendatore, Bartolo, Hunding in Wagner's Die Walküre (three times), Fafner in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, in Gurnemanz in Parsifal, and Ochs (three times).

Awards and honors

He won three Grammy Awards (1981, 1985, and 1989) for various opera CDs, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Classical Music/Dance for his performance as Hunding on the PBS television series Live from the Metropolitan Opera (also known as The Metropolitan Opera Presents), in 1991. In Germany he held the prestigious title Kammersänger. Moll was Bayerischer, Hamburger und Wiener Kammersänger.

Retirement

Moll retired from the stage in 2006, after singing the Nightwatchman at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Moll lived in Cologne with his family until his death.

Film Kurt Moll – Ein Mann, ein Bass. portrait, Germany 2000, 60 min., directed by Eckhart Schmidt, produced by Raphaela Film GmbH and Preview Release GmbH in coproduction with Bayerischer Rundfunk