Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century

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Dietrich Fischer-DieskauGerman classical and opera singer

Fischer-Dieskau is a consummate interpreter ofclnssicttl song, opera, and orntorio, and his record-ings spread his fame worldwide. He is noted for hisuirtuosic interpretations of lieder and of FranzS chub ert' s a o cal w orks.

Born: May 28,1925; Berlin, Cermany

PrincipalworksopERArrc RoLES: Marquis of Posa in Giuseppe

Verdi's Don Carlos,7948;Wolfram in RichardWagner's T annhiius er, 79 49 ; J ohn the Bap tist inRichard Strauss's Salome,1952; Don Giovanniin Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giouannt,1953; Busoni in Charles Gounod's Faust,1955;Amfortas in Wagner's Parsfal,1955; CountAlmaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro,1956;Renato in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, \957 )

Falstaff in Verdi's Henry V,1959; Mathis inPaul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler,1959;Wozzeck in Alban Berg's Wozzeck,7960;Yevgeny Onyegin in Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky'sEugene Onegin,1967;Barak in Strauss's DleFrau ohne Schatten,1963; Macbeth in Verdi'sMacbeth,1963;Don Alfonso in Mozart's Cosi fantutte,7972; King Lear in Aribert Reimann'sLear,1978.

Principal recordingsALBUM s : S chub er t : D ie W int er r eis e, 79 52; The Magic

Flute-Die Zauberfldte, 1956; Arsbella, 7957 ;

Capriccio, 7958; W agner : D ie F liegende Holliinder,7960; Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem,196I;S chub er t : D ie S chdn e MiiII er in, 79 67 ; Lohen gr i n :

Romantic OpEra in Three Acts,1962; Britten: WarRequiem, 1963; Don Carlos, 1965; Tosca

Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich

Highlight s, 19 67 ; EI ekt r a, 79 67 ; W o zzeck, 19 62;Doktor Faust,1969; Handel: Giulio Cesare inE git t o, 19 69 ; S aI ome, 197 7 ; P al es tr ina, 197 2; IlMatrimonio Segreto, 7975; Bdatrice et B€ntdictOpdra-comique en Due Actes,7982; Hiinsel undGr et el, 1985 ; I essonda, 1991.

The LifeDietrich Fischer-Dieskau (DEE-trihk FEE-shur

DEE-skow) was born into a middle-class family inBerlin. His parents, both educators, shared withtheir son a love of literature and music. Fischer-Dieskau's paternal ancestors were mostly Protestantclergymen, and one of his maternal ancestors is me-morialized in a Berlin monument depicting Freder-ick the Great and Ceneral Baron von Dieskau, anartillery expert and inventor of a light cannon de-picted on the monument, known as Dieskaus.

Fischer-Dieskau began to sing at an early age,starting formal voice instruction at age sixteen.Upon completion of high school in1943, he madehis first solo appearances in Berlin. Later that year,he was drafted into the German army, and in 1945

he was captured by Allied forces and sent to aprisoner-of-war camp in Italy. \Alhile in prison, hepresented informal lieder concerts to his fellowGerman prisoners.

After World War II ended, he returned to Berlinto resume his vocal studies and to begin his singingcareer. His artistic reputation grew, and he was ingreat demand in the United States and England.Fischer-Dieskau is one of the few singers who ex-cels at concert performance and at opera singing.He is also a prolific recording artist, who has pro-duced an enormous repertoire of works, rangingfrom obscure Renaissance pieces to operatic roles tocontemporary songs. Throughout his career, he hascollaborated with an impressive list of accompa-nists, conductors, and orchestras.

The MusicFischer-Dieskau's remarkable professional suc-

cess may be attributed to his debut at an early age,

the reconstruction and subsequent economic boomof West Germany following World War II, and theadvent and worldwide distribution of the long-play recording.

Lieder. Fischer-Dieskau began to collaboratewith the English pianist Gerald Moore in 1951. For

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Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. (AP/VVide World Photos)

the next two decades, the pair made numerous re-cital appearances in Europe, lapan, and NorthAmerica. By 1970 Fischer-Dieskau had recordedwith Moore every Franz Schubert song appropriatefor male voice, along with most of the songs of Rob-ert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, JohannesBrahms, Hugo Wolf , Frantz Liszt, Felix Mendels-sohn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. These re-cordings in the new long-playing format were soldall over the world, and they introduced the genre oflieder to generations of music lovers and musicians.So impressive were his renditions that Fischer-Dieskau became internationally known as a fore-most interpreter of lieder.

His 1952 recording of Schubert's Die Winterreise(1827), with Moore at the piano, continues to be thestandard against which all other versions arejudged. It rates highly with the recording of Schu-bert'sDie Schtjne Milllerin (1824) as one of the finestrecordings of the genre. "Der Neugierige" (The Cu-rious Boy), song number six fuom Die Schdne

Milllerin, provides a splendid example of the tre-

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Musicians nnd Composers of the 20th Century

mendous range in pitch, dynamics, and tone colorFischer-Dieskau gave this repertoire. His interpre-tive approach was to start with the poem and ana-lyze Schubert's setting, phrase by phrase, word byword, and note by note.

Oratorio. Fischer-Dieskau's long career as anoratorio soloist began with Ein deutsches Requiem(1868) of Brahms. His first performance of thiswork, which was also his professional debut at theage of twenty-one, was as a last-minute substitutefor an ailing colleague in 1947. He performed thework dozens of times throughout his career, and herecorded it several times, under such conductors as

Rudolf Kempe and Herbert von Karajan. However,the most popular of those recordings continues tobe the one from 1961, which includes ElisabethSchwartzkopf, soprano, and the New Philhar-monia Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by OttoKlemperer.

Ein deutsches Requiemis arnasterful expression ofthe gift of life triumphing over death. In the twosolo sections forbaritone, Fischer-Dieskau is able touse a variety of vocal color and shading to expressthe contrite spirit of the third movement. Then, inthe sixth-movement solo, his voluminous powercreates a contrasting prophetic sense, giving the lis-tener a tremendous emotional impact. A work thathas occupied him for his entire career , Ein deutsches

Requiem was the singer's choice to end his career as

an oratorio soloist, inal992performance in Tokyo,Japan.

The British composer Benjamin Britten re-quested that Fischer-Dieskau sing the premiereperformance of Wsr Requiem (7962), given inCoventry, England, in1962. This premiere was partof a series of consecration ceremonies for the rebuiltCoventry Cathedral, which had been destroyed ina German air raid in 1940. Fischer-Dieskau contin-ued to sing performances of the War Requiemthroughout his career as an oratorio soloist. Soon af-ter the premiere, he recorded itwith soprano CalinaVishnievskay, tenor Peter Pears, the Melos Ensem-b1e of London, and the London Symphony Orches-tra, with the composer conducting. As is often thecase with Fischer-Dieskau's recordings, this effortremains unparalleled in intensity and expression.

The oratorio is an attempt at international rec-onciliation, with soloists c-oming from Germany(Fischer-Dieskau), the Soviet Union (Vishnievskay),

Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century

and England (Pears), all memorializing the greatloss of life in World War I and World War II. Al-though Fischer-Dieskau was not a pacifist (as wasBritten), he was not attracted to the social and polit-ical goals of the Third Reich, and he resisted hisconscription into the German army. Tall and lanky,ill-suited for a combat role, he finally joined as re-quired, and he was quickly captured by Alliedforces.

Fischer-Dieskau's war experience certainly col-ored his singing of this piece, although a morl per-sonal experience is at the heart of his relationshipwith the Wnr Requiem. One of the main baritone so-Ios draws its text from Wilfred Owen's sonnet OnSeeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought into Action.Thesegment is set in a highly dramatic musical style, in-cluding a fusillade of kettle drums announcing thedeployment of the artillery. For Fischer-Dieskau,who grew up in Berlin, admiring the monumentthat included his ancestor, this combination ofwords and music must have been shatterins. As re-ported by M ichael Steinberg in his bookChiral Mqs-terworks, tenor Pears recalled that he "could hardlyget his colleague (Fischer-Dieskau) to stand andIeave the choir stalls at the end of the Covenrrv per-formance."

Fischer-Dieskau's ability to take the universalityof the war experience, to add his own personal ex-perience, and to sing in English (for him a foreignlanguage) is indicative of the singer's singularpower of artistic achievement.

Opera. Fischer-Dieskau's legacy includes morethan one hundred operatic roles, spanning the en-tire history of the genre. His voice, possibly bestclassified as a lyric bass-baritone, is not well suitedfor the majority of dramatic baritone or bass roles.However, his overall musicianship did ensure himgreat success in some roles, notably those createdbyMozart, Giuseppe Verdi, and Richard Wagner.

Favoring the smaller opera houses of his nativeGermany, Fischer-Dieskau seldom performed op-eras outside of Europe, and he never appeared atthe Metropolitan Opera in New York. He did fre-quently appear at the major opera houses of Eu-rope, such as the Vienna State Opera, the MunichOpera, and London's Covent Garden, as well as intheDeutsche Oper Beilin,and atmany important fes-tivals, such as the ones at Beyreuth and at Salzburg.These smaller houses allowed Fischer-Dieskau to

Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich

use his voice in the way he was accustomed, with awide palette of colors, dynamics, and inflections.

Among the roles that Fischer-Dieskau sang onstage and in the recording studio were a number oftitle roles: Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Falstaff,Alban Berg's Wozzeck, Handel's Giulio Cesare,and Wagner's Flying Dutchman. The breadth of hisrepertoire spans the history of opera.

About half of the opera roles in Fischer-Dieskau'srepertoire were never performed on stage but wererecorded only. An examination of his discographymakes it clear that Fischer-Dieskau made a consis-tent effort to support contemporary composers, pre-miering new works such as Heinz Werner Henze'sElegie fi)r junge Liebende (196\), Gottfried vonEinem's Dnnton'sTod (1943), and Aribert Reimann'sLear (7978), which was composed for him.

Musical LegacyFor his pursuit of artistic excellence, Fischer-

Dieskau has been awarded honorary degrees fromthe universities of Oxford, Yale, Heidelberg, andthe Sorbonne. He has won multiple GrammyAwards and the Deutsche Schallplatten Preis (theGerman Recording Ptize). He has won the GrandPrix du Disque almost every year between 1955 andthe end of his career. He is a member of the Ameri-can Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the RoyalAcademy of Music in London, of the AccademiaSanta Cecilia in Rome, and of other interna-tional music organizations. In 2000 DeutscheGrammaphon issued a commemorative box set oftwenty-one compact discs devoted to the entiretyof Fischer-Dieskau's singing career. With a discog-raphy of more than one thousand recordings, cov-ering the works of more than two hundred compos-ers, Fischer-Dieskau has created an impressivepermanent legacy of performances.

Richard Allen Roe

Further ReadingFischer-Dieskau, Dietrich. Reaerberations: The Mem-

oirs of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskaa. Translated byRuth Hein. Portland, Oreg.: Froom, 1990. Thispersonal account of the events of Fischer-Dieskau's life and distinguished career containsmany anecdotes. Well written, it is for the gen-eral audience and cultivated musicians alike.

Schubert's Songs: A Biographical Study.

445

Fitzgerald, Ella

Translated by Kenneth S. Whitton. New York:Alfred A. Knopf, 1,978. As in-depth study ofSchubert, using the composer's songs as the pri-mary source for assertions on Schubert's per-sonal life and outlook. Written more for culti-vated musicians than for general readers, it isrich in detail and presents Fischer-Dieskau'ssubjective experience of preparation and perfor-mance of Schubert's music.

Ivry, Benjamin. "A Voice of the Century Past." NewEngland Reaiew 27, no. 1 (2006). An excellent, ifnot enthusiastic, appraisal of Fischer-Dieskau'ssinging career.

Moore, Gerald. "Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau." In Am IToo Loud? London: Hammish Hamilton, 1961. Atestimonial to the relationship between singerand accompanist. Moore, with whom Fischer-Dieskau made the complete Schubert lieder formale voice recordings, presents a singular in-sight into the artist.

Neunzig, Ha ns A. D ietr ich F is ch er -D ieskau : A B io gr a-

phy. Translated and annotated by Kenneth S.

Whitton. Portland, Oreg.: Amadeus Press, 1998.

A thorough biography of Fischer-Dieskau, withrare photographs and examples of the singer'spainting and other artwork.

Steinberg, Michael. "Benjamin Britten: War Re'

quiem." In Chornl Masterworks: A Listener's Guide.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Thischapter on Britten's oratorio contains accounts ofFischer-Dieskau's contribution to the premiere.

See also: Barenboim, Daniel; Britten, Benjamin;Karajan, Herbert von; Klemperer, Otto; Stern,Isaac.

Ella FitzgeraldAmerican jazz singer

Fitzgerald began her career ns a jazz singer but be-

came known aII oaer the world by her first nnme

olone as a popular singer. Hu greatest nmbitionand realized achieuement was to entertain audi-ences by singing songs as she felt them.

Born: April 25,7917; Newport News, VirginiaDied: june 75,1996; Beverly Hills, California

446

Musiciqns and Composers of the 20th Century

Also known as; Ella Jane Fitzgerald (full name);First Lady of Song

Principal recordingsALBUMS: Lullabies of Birdlnnd, 7945; Miss Ella

Fitzgernld and Mr. Nelson Riddle Inaite You toListen and Relax,1949; Ella, Lena, and BiIIie,1950(with Lena Horne and Billie Holiday); EIlaSings Gershwin, 1950 ; Souaenir Album, L950;Sweet and H0t,1953; Songs in a Mellow Mood,7954; Pete Kelly's Blues,7955 (with Peggy Lee);Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book,

1956; Ellq Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and HartSong Book,1956; ElIa and Louis,1956 (with LouisArmstrong) ; Ella snd Louis Again,1957 (withArmstrong); Ella Fitzgerald Sings the DukeEllington Song Book,7957; Like Someone in Loae,

1957; One O'CIock lump,1957 (with ]oeWilliams and the Count Basie Orchestra); Porgyand Bess,7957 (with Armstrong); Ella FitzgeraldSings the Iraing Berlin Song Book,7958; EIIa

Swings Lightly,7958; EUa Fitzgerald Sings Sweet

Songs for Swingers,1959; EIIa Fitzguald Sings the

George and Ira Gershwin Song Book,1959; Get

Happy!, \959; Hello Loae, L959; Elln FitzgeraldSings Songs from "Let No Man Write MyEpitaph," 1960; Ella Fitzgernld Sings the HaroldArlen Song Book, VoI. 1, 7960; Ella FitzgeraldSings the Harold Arlen Song Book, V0L 2,1960;EIIa Fitzgerald Wishes You a Swinging Christmas,7960; Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!,1967; EllaSwings Brightly with Nelson,1961 (with NelsonRiddle); Ella Swings Gently withNelson,7962(with Riddle); Rhythm ls My Business,1962; ElIaand Basie!,1963 (with Count Basie's NewTestament Band); ElIa Fitzgerald Sings the leromeKern Song Book,7963; These Are the Blues,1963;ElIa Fitzgerald Sings the lohnny Mercer Song Book,

1.964; Hello, DoIIy!,1964; Ella at Duke's Place,

1965 (with the Duke Ellington Orchestra);Wisper N0t,L966 (with Marty Paich and hisOrchestra); Brighten the Corner,7967; EllaF it zg er al d' s Chr istm ss, 79 67 ; Misty BIue, \9 68 ;

Things Ain't Whnt They Used to Be (And You

Better Belieae lt),7970; ElIa Loaes Cole,1972; Take

Loae Easy,1973 (with Joe Pass); Fine snd Mellow,1974; ElIa and Oscar,1975 (with OscarPeterson); Fitzgerald and Pass . . . Again,1976(with Pass); Dream Dancing,7978; Lady Time,