To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024, the BR-KLASSIK label is releasing previously unreleased recordings of concerts for the first time on CD and as a stream. Excerpts from Richard Strauss's comic opera "Die schweigsame Frau" ("The Silent Woman") were pre-produced as studio recordings for a television program in November 1960. The impressive cast was almost identical to that of the opera production at the Salzburg Festival in 1959 under the premiere conductor Karl Böhm: Hans Hotter (Sir Morosus), Hermann Prey (Barber), Fritz Wunderlich (Henry), Ingeborg Hallstein (Aminta), and many others sang. Here, Heinz Wallberg conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In contrast to the live recording from Salzburg, which is marred by the clearly audible stage noises of a turbulent production, the outstanding cast of singers in this recording is more effective. The BR-KLASSIK label is now marking the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024 by making this previously unreleased studio production available for the first time on CD and as a stream.
After the death of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Strauss thought he had reached the end of his operatic career – but then he found a librettist of equal calibre in Stefan Zweig, who provided him with "the best libretto for an opéra comique since Figaro" (Strauss). The comic opera was written between 1932 and 1935 and, despite the fact that Zweig was a Jewish librettist (who had since emigrated), Strauss managed to have the opera premiered in Dresden on June 24, 1935, conducted by Karl Böhm. However, because the composer insisted on printing Zweig's name on the posters and in the program, the Nazis boycotted the performance. After the Gestapo intercepted a letter that Strauss had written to Zweig expressing his delight at the successful premiere, the composer finally fell out of favor. The opera was taken off the program after only three performances and was not performed at any other German theater until 1946. Strauss resigned from the presidency of the Reich Chamber of Music "for health reasons".
Strauss endowed "Die schweigsame Frau" with an overabundance of musical ideas: turbulent ensembles and individual tone colors, light comedy, and grand arias alternate. He casually quotes himself and a dozen other composers, including Rossini, whose "Barber of Seville" was the model for his talkative and manipulative barber. Music connoisseurs appreciate the many musical allusions in the work.
Franz Schubert's rarely performed opera, more appropriately dubbed a Singspiel, Fierrabras, is heard here in a fine-sounding, well-sung 1959 Bern, Switzerland radio broadcast concert performance that features the one and only Fritz Wunderlich in the leading role. One of Myto's bestselling titles despite the lack of name recognition of nearly every other cast member, this recording of Fierrebras returns to the marketplace where its competition is slight and interest in anything Schubert is and will always remain high.
When Handel composed his Judas Maccabaeus in 1746 he had brought to an end his activity for the (Italian) opera in London and begun a second career as an oratorio composer, which at first got off to a very successful start but then soon experienced a decline, for which there had been various causes. Judas Maccabaeus is the evidence that Handle had recovered from this setback, and to this day the work is considered one of his most successful. Rafael Kubelík relies, without ifs and buts, on the Handel Edition by the North German musical scholar Friedrich Chrysander that appeared in the second half of the 19th century and represents a monument of the scholarly musical historicism that probably could appear only in Germany and not in England, Handel’s artistic home. Apart from the old-fashioned German translation, most astonishing is the drastic cuts that Chrysander made. This historical live recording from 1963 presents Fritz Wunderlich as Judas together with Agnes Giebel, Julia Falk, Naan Pöld and Ludwig Welter.
This release is the 10th in a unique collection of popular German songs, performed by Fritz Wunderlich, this album focusing on recordings from the 1950's and 60's. It is well known that Wunderlich was an exceptional singer, yet it never fails to surprise when hearing him singing works from different genres and discovering how he developed from his early performances to later in his career. This album focuses on the recordings which began his career and the sames repertoire which he later returned to with a more mature sound and approach. Both this release and all future volumes contain recordings that Wunderlich made for the company from which SWR grew. They are only available here.
It was the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler who first gave Gottlob Frick the nickname "Der schwärzeste Bass". This accolade has been picked up time and again, gone through various manifestations, and become a sort of trademark of the German bass Gottlob Frick. That said, the attribute "black" is often applied to define the vocal range of a basso profundo's ability to produce sonorous deep notes. However, the definition of "black bass" means far more than that: it applies primarily to the deep, dark timbre, the rich and sonorous sound and the lasting flexibility of the voice even in the deep registers, paired with strength, momentum, natural resonance and abundant expression in the entire vocal range. "If you have ever heard the timbre of Gottlob Frick's voice, you will never forget it," as the German singing expert Jürgen Kesting accurately observed in his standard reference work "Die großen Sänger". Gottlob Frick is seen rightly therefore as the incarnation of the black bass. He is a German bass who, thanks to the many sound recordings he left us documenting his sonorous, unusually beautiful and fluently melodic singing, enjoys a popularity to this day that is probably unparalleled in this vocal register. One of the reasons the internationally renowned critic John B. Steane advanced to justify his inclusion of Gottlob Frick in his list of 100 most important singers in "Opera Now" is encapsulated in this fitting characterisation: "When it comes to the Wagnerian basso profundo, the only name in recent times that matters" – by which he means the 1940s to 1980s – "is that of Gottlob Frick: a tower of strength in the strongest ensemble and one of the greatest basses of all time. His voice is steady despite its powerful capacity, supple and splendid. Frick's two-and-a-half-octave bass is remarkably well trained and remains constant through its entire spectrum. He has a strong sense of rhythm and he can sing both legato and staccato in exemplary manner, without depriving his listeners of that rich timbre of his."
In the Summer of 1961, German Conductor Heinz Walberg Was in Charge of Teatro Colo?N's German Season and Decided to Present, Amongst Other Operatic Works, Mozart's Entfu?Hrung Aus Dem Serail. From a Time Prior to the Onrush of Historically-Informed Performances of Classical-Era Works, This Old-Fashioned (In the Best Sense of That Term) Production Featured a Cast Including Fritz Wunderlich As Belmonte, the Revered Anneliese Rothenberger, Renate Holm, Eugenio Valori, Who Sang at This Theater for Three Decades and Kurt Bohme, Whose Singing Career Lasted in Excess of Fifty Years.
This is the 8th installment in the SWR CLASSIC series dedicated to Fritz Wunderlich. It contains never before released recordings as well as rarely performed repertoire worth discovering, brilliantly sung by one of the most talented tenors of all times. The esteemed German tenor, Fritz Wunderlich 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 composers as Strauss, Lehár, Kálmán and Fall.
This album is the sixth installment of the series dedicated to the SWR recordings of Fritz Wunderlich. It contains arias composed by less known contemporaries of Mozart, including two arias by Alessandro Scarlatii and Handel. Fritz Wunderlich had a bright, albeit entirely too short career. Born to a violinist mother and choir director father, he was enveloped in music from an early age. He was urged to pursue classical voice training by a theater troupe who heard him singing as they passed by the bakery where he worked. He was granted a scholarship to the Freiburg Music Academy in Breisgau, and studied there from 1950 to 1955. While there he also studied the classical horn, which explains his incredible breath control. During the remaining decade of his life Fritz Wunderlich gained respect as a Mozart singer, Bach interpreter, and Bel Canto and light opera performer.
This album features a recording made during a performance at the Prinzregententheater in Munich on January 18, 1962. It was directed by Rudolf Hartmann and the performance was given, as was usual in those days, in German. The original analogue tapes have been stored at the Fritz Wunderlich Society in Kusel (in the Rhineland-Palatinate), and have been restored by TechneAudio in Baden-Württemberg. Some specialists suspect that the recordings were made by Fritz Wunderlich himself, a great fan of the latest technology. Despite costly and careful restoration of the tapes, some defects and intrusive artefacts on the mono tapes, some of which are damaged, are clearly audible. However, the historic significance of this recording certainly justifies its release. Not surprisingly, Fritz Wunderlich (1930-1966) in the role of Ernesto receives the greatest attention. Probably Germany’s greatest tenor knew just how to cultivate the love-sick bachelor, as he did with all his roles, and to breathe life into the character with his inimitable voice. In addition to lyric qualities, the role demands other skills such as the canto fiorito style of ornamented singing of the nineteenth century.
Heinz Wallberg's intimate familiarity with the work (he conducted it on almost fifty separate occasions) can be heard throughout this 1961 performance of Richard Strauss' operatic masterpiece Der Rosenkavalier. Captured live at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961 with a stellar cast that included Regine Crespin and Fritz Wunderlich, among other Straussian notables, and offered here in 24bit/96kHz re-mastered sound, this is a recording to be set alongside those of Clemens Krauss, Karl Böhm and Herbert von Karajan, all famed and important 20th c. Strauss interpreters.
Stories about Wunderlich's meteoric rise to success, his incredibly heavy workload or his seemingly effortless acquisition of new repertoire have been told again and again – sometimes painting an idealized and sometimes a distorted picture of the artist. The nine installments of the SWR retrospective that have been released by SWR CLASSIC to this day feature Fritz Wunderlich as a singer of songs, (an unequalled) Mozart tenor, a brilliant interpreter of the greatest tenor hits, a fascinating singer of operettas and as a tasteful interpreter of light music, to name but a few of the genres that made up his repertoire. Though Fritz Wunderlich remains until today a widely appreciated and admired singer, there are some facets to his artistic side that are still relatively unknown. The tenth and last installment presents Fritz Wunderlich as an interpreter of the big works of sacred music, an aspect that has to be considered as an essential part of his artistic profile.
![Wunderlich: Opernarien (Bayerischer Rundfunk 1961-1966) [Live]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/2056703.jpg?v=1786631348&width=400)
