I have always admired the voice (in recordings of the 50s and 60s) and appearance (in video and photos) of Moffo greatly, and this is indeed sad news. Unfortunately I never saw her. When I grew up, she was one of the singers whose recordings were played regularly in the house, especially her Violetta, Gilda and Mimi, and to a large extent she contributed to my developing love of the operatic voice.
In my opinion, her commercial recording of Butterfly (with Cesare Valletti, Rosalind Elias, Renato Cesari, and Erich Leinsdorf conducting) is one of those "great recordings of the 20th century" that should be recommended to every opera collector's library. She is one of the few sopranos who makes Cio-Cio-San sound like a teenage girl, and she is the one who simply shatters my heart with her portrayal. If you haven't heard it yet, please be encouraged to seek it out. If you have the recording, this is a good time to turn to it again. Some say that the voice was too small to carry off the final scene, and perhaps it was, but it doesn't matter to me - from beginning to end Anna Moffo makes the tragic Japanese girl come to life and death like no other soprano could do on a recording. Thankfully her Butterfly is now also available on DVD in an old black-and-white RAI recording.
It is always sad to hear of the passing of a person one admired, but Moffo's death touches me more than usual, as she has been a substantial part of my opera world since a small child. Fortunately she is well represented on recordings, and her voice will always be there to enjoy and appreciate.
