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Biography
Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich (September 26, 1930spaced ndashSeptember 17, 1966) was a German lyric tenor , famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and Italian and German opera and lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35. In a survey published in the BBC Music Magazine of April 2008, Wunderlich was voted the fourth greatest tenor of all time. http://www.bbcmagazinesbristol.com/newsread.asp? id=40904 BBC greatest tenor ever
Biography
Fritz Wunderlich was born in Kusel in the Palatinate (region)|Palatinate . His mother was a violin ist and his father was a choir|choir-master . For a short time, the family kept the inn "Emrichs Bräustübl". Fritz's father lost his job due to pressure imposed upon him by local Nazis, in addition to suffering from a severe battlefield injury. He committed suicide when Fritz was five years old.
The story regarding Wunderlich's discovery parallels many of his contemporaries (notably Nicolai Gedda and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau ). As a young man Wunderlich worked in a bakery. At the insistence of neighbors and passers-by who had witnessed his musical gifts and beautiful voice, Wunderlich decided to begin studies in music. He managed to obtain a scholarship in order to pursue his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg|Freiburg Music Academy where he studied French horn and voice.
Wunderlich was soon noted as a brilliant young tenor, especially in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart ian roles, but he later expanded his reach to the full range of the lyric tenor repertoire.
He occasionally sang minor Richard Wagner|Wagner roles such as the Steuermann in The Flying Dutchman (opera)|The Flying Dutchman , Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser , and the Hirt in Tristan und Isolde .
Recordings
It was the fashion during Wunderlich's career for German theaters to perform operas in the local rather than original language. Therefore, most of his recordings of the standard operatic repertoire are sung in German, including Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi 's Rigoletto and Don Carlos . (He sang his recording of the VerdiRequiem (Verdi)|Requiem in distinctly Germanic Latin.) Wunderlich achieved the highest distinction within the German repertory. Of special importance is a recording of Mozart's The Magic Flute , conducted by Karl Böhm , in which Wunderlich gave a critically acclaimed performance as Prince Tamino, http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/October%201965/69/776138/ " Die Zauberflöte review", Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone , October 1965 opposite baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the role of Papageno.
Wunderlich's crystal-clear voice and intelligent, restrained interpretation also led him to impressive renditions of the Lied er cycles of Franz Schubert|Schubert and Robert Schumann|Schumann with pianist Hubert Giesen . 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 Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach 's Christmas Oratorio , with fellow singers Gundula Janowitz , Christa Ludwig , and Franz Crass , conducted by Karl Richter (conductor)|Karl Richter . Also astonishing is an album of pre-Bach sacred songs, featuring music of Heinrich Schütz|Schütz , Georg Philipp Telemann|Telemann , Dieterich Buxtehude|Buxtehude , and other less well-known composers.
At the time of his death, he had been recording Joseph Haydn|Haydn 's The Creation (Haydn)|The Creation , with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Wiener Singverein under Herbert von Karajan , the other soloists being Christa Ludwig, Gundula Janowitz, Walter Berry (bass-baritone)|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.
Available videos include a full-length performance (in German) as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville , and a recital of operatic arias.
Accidental death
Wunderlich's promising career was cut short by an accident while he was on a hunting vacation (his hobbies included hunting, guns, and fast cars). He fell from a stairway in a friend's country house in Oberderdingen near Maulbronn , and died in the University Clinic of Heidelberg just days before his 36th birthday. He is buried in Munich's Munich Waldfriedhof|Waldfriedhof cemetery.
Notes
reflist
External links
http://www.fritz-wunderlich-ges.com/english/index-english.htm Website of the Fritz Wunderlich Gesellschaft
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Wunderlich-Fritz.htm Biography from Bach-Cantatas.com
Allmusic|class=artist|id=q61335|pure_url=yes Wunderlich at Allmusic.com
Persondata | NAME = Wunderlich, Fritz | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = German operatic tenor | DATE OF BIRTH = 26 September 1930 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Kusel, Germany | DATE OF DEATH = 17 September 1966 | PLACE OF DEATH = Heidelberg, Germany DEFAULTSORT:Wunderlich, Fritz Category:1930 births Category:1966 deaths Category:German opera singers Category:Operatic tenors Category:Accidental deaths from falls Category:Accidental deaths in Germany Category:German tenors
