Fritz Wunderlich

It was the fashion during Wunderlich's career for many German theatres to perform operas in the local rather than original language. Therefore, most of his recordings of the Italian operatic repertoire are sung in German, including Verdi's La traviata and Rossini's The Barber of Seville. (He sang his recording of the Verdi Requiem in distinctly Germanic Latin.) Wunderlich achieved the highest distinction within the German repertory. Of special importance is the 1964 recording of Mozart's The Magic Flute, conducted by Karl Böhm, in which Wunderlich gave a critically acclaimed performance as Tamino, opposite sopranos Evelyn Lear as Pamina and Roberta Peters as the Queen of the Night and baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the role of Papageno. There is also a live performance of The Magic Flute recorded in 1960 at the Salzburg Festival, and several recordings as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Recordings also exist of lesser-known Mozart operas such as Zaide and La finta giardiniera Wunderlich's crystal-clear voice, exquisitely precise diction, and intelligent but passionate interpretation also led him to impressive renditions of the lieder cycles of Schubert and Schumann with pianist Hubert Giesen, who was also his artistic mentor. His famous recording of Schumann's Dichterliebe remains a gold standard of this genre. Many tenors since have emulated Wunderlich's interpretation of this cycle. Another notable recording he left is J. S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio, with fellow singers Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, and Franz Crass, conducted by Karl Richter. Also he is the tenor on Herbert von Karajan's recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, with Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, and Walter Berry. He recorded an album of pre-Bach sacred songs, featuring music of Schütz, Telemann, Buxtehude, and other less well-known composers. With Christa Ludwig he recorded Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Otto Klemperer. At the time of his death, he had been recording Haydn's The Creation, with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Wiener Singverein under Herbert von Karajan with other soloists Christa Ludwig, Gundula Janowitz, Walter Berry and Fischer-Dieskau. Wunderlich had completed recording his arias, but Werner Krenn was hired to record the recitatives. Several recorded live performances of Wunderlich singing the whole part, under Karajan, survive. Numerous anthology albums of him singing arias from opera and operetta are available. Available videos include a full-length performance (in German) as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville (with Hermann Prey, Erika Köth and Hans Hotter), and a recital of operatic arias.