Fritz Wunderlich - Oper, Operette, Film (Unveröffentlichte Rundfunkaufnahmen) Fritz Wunderlich

• Carl Millocker (1842-1899) & Theo Mackeben (1897-1953):
• 1Die Dubarry: Wie schön ist alles03:56
• 2Die Dubarry: Mein Weg führt immer mich zu dir zurück03:27
• Albert Lortzing (1801-1851):
• 3Zar und Zimmermann, Act II: Leb' wohl, mein flandrisch Mädchen04:59
• 4Undine: Undine, Act III: Vater, Mutter, Schwestern, Brüder03:11
• 5Der Waffenschmied (The Armorer of Worms), Act I: Man wird ja nur einmal geboren03:35
• Otto Nicolai (1810-1849):
• 6Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Act II: Romance: Horch, die Lerche singt im Hain!05:05
• Franz Lehár (1870-1948):
• 7Schön ist die Welt (Beautiful World), Act I: Schön ist die Welt03:58
• Johann Strauss II (1825-1899):
• 8Eine Nacht in Venedig: Act II: Lied: Treu sein, das liegt mir nicht02:05
• 9Eine Nacht in Venedig: Act I: Sei mir gegrüßt, du holdes Venezia!02:47
• Leo Fall (1873-1925):
• 10Die Rose von Stambul: Act III: Zwei Augen, die wollen mir nicht aus dem Sinn04:04
• 11Die Rose von Stambul: Act III: O Rose von Stambul04:02
• Eduard Kunneke (1885-1953):
• 12Die lockende Flamme: Ich träume mit offenen Augen02:42
• 13Die grosse Sunderin: Das Lied vom Leben des Schrenk04:29
• Robert Stolz (1880-1975):
• 14Ich liebe alle Frauen: Ob blond, ob braun 02:30
• Mischa Spoliansky (1898-1985):
• 15Heute Nacht oder nie!03:08
• Willy Mattes (1916-2002):
• 16Melodia con passione03:47
• Total Runtime57:45

Info for Fritz Wunderlich - Oper, Operette, Film (Unveröffentlichte Rundfunkaufnahmen)

A new album from BR-KLASSIK commemorating the 50th anniversary of the singer’s death. Early, as yet unreleased radio recordings made between 1959 and 1965.

Although fifty years have now passed since Fritz Wunderlich’s tragic death on September 17, 1966, the singer and his incomparable tenor voice have remained unforgotten. One reason was the meteoric success of his artistic career. Following his performance in a student production of Mozart's Magic Flute in Freiburg, the young singer was instantly engaged by the Stuttgart State Opera; he then went on to Frankfurt and Munich, performed at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival, and had already received an offer from the New York Metropolitan Opera. What people remember most about him was his vital, lively personality, his almost limitless ability to cope under pressure, and of course his mellifluous voice, with its great depth, radiance, and delightful timbre. His accurate and always intelligible pronunciation of the words he sang has remained quite unparalleled. He performed operetta scenes with ease and charming levity; he bestowed the grace of genuine feeling onto lieder that had fallen into sentimental discredit; and he belted out party pieces with all the effortless verve of an Italian….

This new album from BR-KLASSIK commemorating the 50th anniversary of the singer’s death presents early, as yet unreleased radio recordings made between 1959 and 1965. The recordings of some Munich Sunday concerts and studio recordings by the Bayerischer Rundfunk show him and his tenor voice at the height of their success. Together with the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, he can be experienced singing with such renowned conductors as Kurt Eichhorn, Siegfried Köhler, Willy Mattes, Hans Moltkau and Meinhard von Zallinger.

Here he focused primarily on the German repertoire, from comic opera to operetta all the way to popular hits which, to this day, more or less owe their very survival to his interpretations of them in concerts and recordings.

Fritz Wunderlich - the tenor voice of the 20th century par excellence – can be relived here in these unreleased recordings from BR-KLASSIK.

Fritz Wunderlich, tenor
Hans Moltkau, conductor
Kurt Eichhorn, conductor
Meinhard von Zallinger, conductor
Siegfried Köhler, conductor
Willy Mattes, conductor
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Digitally remastered

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Fritz Wunderlich
The esteemed German tenor, Fritz Wunderlich, who was born to a violinist mother and choir director father, was no doubt enveloped in music at an early age. Urged to pursue classical voice training by theater people who heard him singing as they passed the bakery where he worked, the young Wunderlich was granted a scholarship to the Freiburg Music Academy in Breisgau by the town fathers. He studied there from 1950 to 1955, also studying the classical horn which explains his almost supernatural breath control.

After playing Tamino in a 1955 student production of W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Fritz Wunderlich was engaged by the Wurttemberg State Opera in Stuttgart. His first professional role was as Ulrich Eislinger in Die Meistersinger. When he was called to play Tamino for an ailing Josef Traxel, Stuttgart had a new star and Fritz Wunderlich's short but amazing career had begun.

During the remaining decade of his life Fritz Wunderlich gained the highest respect as a W.A. Mozart singer, lending lyrical brilliance to J.S. Bach, Schubert and Gustav Mahler and melodic tenderness to Bel Canto and light opera roles. Following such greats as Tauber and Schmidt, Wunderlich also devoted a good part of his time to the beautiful songs of such compsers as Strauss, Lehár, Kálmán and Fall. Singing with the Bavarian State Opera and the Vienna State Opera, he also sang every year at the famed Salzburg Festival. After a a highly successful concert tour of the United States in 1964 and engagements at Covent Garden and Edinburgh in 1965, Wunderlich planned his Metropolitan debut as Don Ottavio on October 8, 1966. However, it was not to be. He died September 17, 1966, a week before his 36th birthday in an accidental fall down a stone stairway at a friend's castle in Heidelberg.

Although he never realized his due as a truly international star in his lifetime, Fritz Wunderlich has since become a favorite of opera lovers the world over. One has only to listen to his stunning voice to become a devotee for life. His vocal quality and strength combined with effortless expression and touching lyrical beauty make him one of the truly great tenors of the 20th century and probably of all time.

Booklet for Fritz Wunderlich - Oper, Operette, Film (Unveröffentlichte Rundfunkaufnahmen)