(Maria) Josepha Weber (later Josepha Hofer, Josepha Mayer; 1758 – December 29, 1819) was a German soprano of the classical era. She was a sister-in-law of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the first to perform the role of The Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (1791) and Schikaneder’s and Winter’s sequel Das Labyrinth oder der Kampf mit den Elementen (1798). She was as well the first to perform the role of Oberon in Paul Wranitzky’s opera (1789).
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She was born in Zell im Wiesental, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the daughter of Fridolin Weber. She had three younger sisters (in descending order of age): Aloysia, who was an early love interest of Mozart and sang in his later operas; Constanze, who married Mozart in 1782;[1] and Sophie. The composer Carl Maria von Weber was the son of her father's half brother.
Josepha grew up mostly in Mannheim, and moved with her family first to Munich then to Vienna, following the singing career of her sister Aloysia. By 1789 she was the prima donna in the theatrical troupe run by Johann Friedel at the suburban Theater auf der Wieden.[2] Following Friedel's death in that year, the theater was taken over by Emanuel Schikaneder, who retained her in the new company he formed. She appears to have been an important member of the troupe: the collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen, a sort of ancestor to The Magic Flute, includes no arias for coloratura soprano because at the time it was written Hofer was on maternity leave.[3]
At the (highly successful) premiere of The Magic Flute in 1791, Hofer took the role of the Queen of the Night, a famously demanding coloratura part. She continued to perform this role until 1801, when she relinquished it at age 43.
She married twice. Her first husband (married 21 July, 1788 in St. Stephen's Cathedral[4]) was the musician Franz de Paula Hofer (1755–96). Hofer was employed as of 1789 as a violinist at the Imperial court.[4] Her second husband (1797) was the singer Sebastian Mayer (1773–1835). Mayer was the first to perform the role of Pizarro in Beethoven's opera Fidelio.
Josepha Mayer retired from singing in 1805, and died in Vienna December 29, 1819.
Of her singing, the New Grove says, "According to contemporary reports, she commanded a very high tessitura but had a rough edge to her voice and lacked stage presence." The former quality equipped her to take on the very difficult coloratura passages that Mozart wrote into the Queen of the Night's part.
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