Fritz Wunderlich
Fritz Wunderlich was also a victim, but it was his own inadvertence
that did him in. He was born in 1930 in Kusel in Rhine-Pfalz, Germany.
His parents were not very successful musicians. As a boy, he learned
to play the accordion and the French horn. It was with the intention
of becoming a professional horn player that he enrolled in the Freiburg
Conservatory. His tenor voice was too good for a horn player and he
studied voice instead. After an apprenticeship at the Freiburg Opera
House, he was engaged by the Wurtemberg Staatstheater in Stuttgart.
In 1958, the Munich Opera signed him up. The next year he appeared
in the Salzburg Festival. Thereafter, he was an international figure.
Success did not come overnight to him. He achieved it by ever-increasing
excellence which took a while to sink into the consciousness of
both his colleagues and the public. But by the time he was 30, there
was no doubt that he was the best German lyric tenor available,
and one of the best ever.
He first came to prominence as a Mozart singer. It was in Mozart's
Don Giovanni that he was to make his Metropolitan Opera debut. The
only Ottavio I ever heard who could compare with him was the Italian
Cesare Valetti who was 8 years his senior. In addition to Mozart,
Wunderlich's repertory included Alfredo in La Traviata, Lenski in
Eugen Onegin, and Jenik in the Bartered Bride. He was an accomplished
Bach singer and also developed into a fine interpreter of Lieder.
While his sound is not quite as sensuous as was Schmidt's, his
voice is richer in its middle and lower registers. His technique
is flawless, as is his top range which is brilliant and focused.
He sings everything with direct and total conviction. He recorded
much more extensively than did Schmidt. There are numerous complete
opera, oratorio and lieder recordings which showcase his extraordinary
talent. A good introduction to his voice is the three disc album,
The Great German Tenor, EMI CZS 7 62993 2.
In September of 1966 he was the guest of a hunting friend. After
everyone in the house had retired for the evening, Wunderlich left
his room apparently in search of a book from the library on the
floor above. He fell while climbing the stairs and struck his head
on the stone floor. He was taken to a hospital in Heidelberg where
he died on the 17th without ever having regained consciousness.
He was nine days short of his 36th birthday and three weeks shy
of his debut at the Metropolitan.
Both Schmidt and Wunderlich died when they had just reached the
apex of their powers. They should have performed at this level for
20 or so years more. Wunderlich was born three years after Alfredo
Kraus, the Spanish tenor, who is still active¹. Schmidt should
have performed into the sixties. Whether he would have been able
to make a career on the stage is problematic, but we would have
had scores of high quality recordings. Wunderlich doubtless would
have had a great career in the US and would probably be as familiar
a name as Domingo or Pavarotti. War and misadventure decreed that
both these artists would not be allowed to realize their promise.
¹Kraus died in September 1999, three
years after this article was written.
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