[1] She specialized in large dramatic roles such as Isolde, Brünnhilde, and particularly Kundry, and is considered, along with Astrid Varnay and Birgit Nilsson, one of the three major postwar Wagner sopranos.
[2] She was celebrated for her highly individualized interpretations, exceptional acting ability, intense stage presence, and "rich, sexy voice.
Although she is most known for her portrayals of Wagner's major heroines from 1951 to 1955, her continuous performing career (as mezzo-soprano after the 1950s) lasted in excess of half a century, well into the singer's eighties, through which her acting abilities remained intact.
[4] She was then invited to perform in Carmen at Covent Garden in 1949 (returning for the Ring in 1959, Klytemnestra in 1966 and Die schweigsame Frau in 1972, and joined the Hamburg State Opera in the same year.
[citation needed] Kundry, however, was to be her defining role, singing it at every Bayreuth production from 1951 to 1959 except for 1958, most famously in 1951, the year the festival re-opened, under Knappertsbusch, and in 1953, under Clemens Krauss.
It is also one of only two times Max Lorenz sang at Bayreuth after World War II, and his acting abilities lend the record further interest.
From the 1970s, Mödl appeared in character parts: Grandmother Buryjovka, the Countess in The Queen of Spades in Nice (1989)[8] which she was still performing in Mannheim at the age of 87.
She appeared at several premieres: Elisabeth Tudor (Fortner, 1972), Kabale und Liebe (Von Einem, 1976), and Baal (Cerha, 1999).
A brief video from six months prior to her death survives in which she appears with another famous dramatic soprano (of younger generation), Hildegard Behrens.