The son of a Kapellmeister, Fritz Wunderlich made his stage
debut as Tamino in a student production in 1954. By a cyclical
coincidence it was also his last role, sung with the Stuttgart
Opera at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1966. After those
appearances he returned to his native Germany to holiday at
the hunting lodge of a colleague, the bass Gottlib Frick. Whilst
going to answer a phone call he slipped and fell down stairs
and was taken to hospital unconscious; he never recovered. Thus
ended the career of certainly the greatest German lyric tenor
of the immediate post-Second World War years; he was two weeks
short of his 36th birthday. At this stage of his
career he was about to expand more extensively into the Italian
lyric milieu and was preparing the role of Rodolfo in La
Boheme at the time of his death. Whilst Caruso and Björling
died prematurely at 49, we at least have records of them in
their full vocal maturity. We will never know where Wunderlich’s
vocal development would have taken him, particularly in the
German repertoire; certainly a Walther, and perhaps a Lohengrin
or Parsifal, as successor Siegfried Jerusalem, a distinguished
Tamino in Haitink’s recording of Die Zauberflöte,
did.
We are fortunate that Wunderlich left a diverse legacy of studio
recordings. He worked extensively for Electrola, the autonomous
German branch of EMI as well as DG, whilst various radio stations
have also been a source of issued CDs. As was the habit in the
1950s and 1960s most of his operatic offerings on record are
in the singer’s native German rather than the language
of the works’ composition and many of the excerpts on
the EMI issue The Best of Fritz Wunderlich
(see review)
are sung in that language with only Handel’s Largo
being sung as set.
The live recordings present in this issue derive from the last
four years of Wunderlich’s life. His intended direction
was surely recognition of the growth of his voice the consequences
of which can be heard as early as 1964 in his singing of the
role of Tamino, a signature role (trs.1-5). In the opening mirror
aria, Die Bildnis (tr.1) there is some sign of strain
as he reaches for, rather than floats up to, the climax, swelling
on the note for expression. By contrast, in the reprise in Dalla
sua pace from Don Giovanni recorded a year earlier
he sings on the breath with gently elegiac phrasing (tr.6);
in this he is helped by Karajan’s conducting. The extra
edge to the voice as required for the La Boheme Rodolfo
is present in the extracts from Il barbiere di Siviglia
sung in German (trs.8-9). In contrast, the extracts from Die
Entführung aus dem Serail recorded a year earlier evidence
those long-breathed expressive tones with the voice bright and
forward - his hallmark (trs.14-15).
Perhaps the highlights of this collection are the Strauss items
from works not otherwise available with him. Of these his strong
toned singing of Du süssester Engel from Die
schweigsame Frau is particularly notable despite some overload
(tr.13). This extract, like that of Di rigori armato il seno
from Der Rosenkavalier here enjoys its first appearance
on CD (tr. 12) and together with Hilde Gueden’s contribution
makes the extract from Daphne particular highlights (tr.11).
In other extracts the supporting singers vary from the superb
Lucia Popp and Hilde Gueden in Addio, mia vita from Capriccio
(tr. 10) to a rather gruff Sarastro and somewhat mature Rothenberger
in the extracts from Die Zauberflöte (trs 1-5).
Live performances demand more from a singer than those made
in the studio, particularly how their voices strike an accommodation
with the auditorium size. We can hear what Wunderlich really
sounded like in various theatres and it becomes even more evident
what a loss his premature death meant to the operatic world.
Robert J Farr
Details
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Die Zauberflöte K.620
Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön [4:37]
Holde Flöte [3:33]
Soll ich dich, Teurer, nicht mehr sehn?" [2:47]
Mich schreckt kein Tod [2:02]
Tamino mein! [8:11]
with Anneliese Rothenberger, Claude Heater, Albrecht Peter,
Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera, Munich Philharmonic/Fritz
Rieger
rec. Munich Nationaltheater, 26 July 1964
Don Giovanni, K.527
Come mai creder deggio … Dalla sua pace [4:40]
Amici miei ... Il mio tesoro [5:14]
Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera/Herbert von Karajan
rec. 22 June 1963
Die Entführung aus dem Serail K384
Hier soll ich dich denn sehen [2:52]
Konstanze, dich wiederzusehen - O wie ängstlich, o wie
feurig [5:30]
Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera/Josef Krips
rec. 4 October 1965
Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792 - 1868)
Il barbiere di Siviglia (German version)
Sieh schon die Morgenröte [4:12]
Strahlt auf mich der Blitz des Goldes (Duet with Eberhard Wächter)
[7:33]
Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera/Karl Böhm
rec. 28 April 1966
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Capriccio Op.85
Addio, mia vita [3:58]
Fritz Wunderlich, Lucia Popp, Lisa della Casa, Robert Kerns,
Waldemar Kmentt, Walter Berry, Orchestra of the Vienna State
Opera/Georges Prêtre
rec. 21 March 1964
Daphne - bucolic tragedy in one Act
Leukippos, du? -(with fade-out ) [6:11]
with Hilde Gueden, Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera/Karl
Böhm
rec. 21-26 May 1964
Der Rosenkavalier Op.59
Di rigori armato il seno [4:58]
with Kurt Böhme, Josef Knapp
Bavarian State Opera/Rudolf Kempe
rec. 20 July 1966
Die schweigsame Frau Op.80
Du süssester Engel [8:02]
Ingeborg Hallstein, Kurt Böhme
Orchestra of the Munich State Opera/Heinz Wallberg
rec. 12 August 1962
rec. 1962-6
