Fritz Wunderlich Live

• Fritz Wunderlich, Berliner Symphoniker, cond. Berislav Klobucar, sound rec. at Berlin, 1960-06-27 - 1960-06-28, from "FW in 9 Opera Roles"; video rec. in playback method, 1960-07-01?
  • Mozart - Die Entführung aus dem Serail: Konstanze, dich wiederzusehen ... O wie ängstlich K. 384

• Fritz Wunderlich, RSO Stuttgart, cond. Carl Schuricht, SDR sound rec. at Villa Berg, Stuttgart, 1959-04-17, from "FW Stuttgart 1956-63"; video rec. in playback method, 1961?
  • Mozart - Die Zauberflöte: Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön K. 620

• Fritz Wunderlich, L. Kusche (piano), rec. at Munich, 1964-07-16, from Munich Recital
  • Strauss - Himmelsboten zu Liebchens Himmelbett op. 32 No. 5

• see complete opera videos for cast and redording details
  • Pergolesi - Il maestro di musica: Aria (in German)
  • Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia: four excerpts (sung in German)
  • Tchaikovsky - Yevgeny Onyegin: Scene Onyegin - Lenski (with H. Prey and choir)
    - Yevgeny Onyegin: Wohin seid Ihr entschwunden (Kuda, kuda, kuda vi udalilis)

• Joseph McLellan in "The Washington Post", 1995-07-23: "The Wunderlich collection, for example, has some of the most blurred video images I have ever seen, and he sings everything in German. Still, it's a unique treasure."
• Janice Grimaldi posting to the "Opera-L" mailing list, 2000-01: "Wunderbar! Incredible! Full of energy, wonderful voices, it is a TEN! Can't watch/listen to this too many times."
• Joe Pearce, in the BCS catalogue: "... On this tape we have some rare kinescopes and films of Wunderlich, including three sets of highlights from actual stage performances. We find a handsome fellow who both sings and interprets exceedingly well, especially when there are other singers with whom he can interact. Four excerpts from a staged Il barbiere di Siviglia, with Hermann Prey and Erika Köth, show him as embodying a reserved but aristocratic Almaviva, while in two excerpts from Eugene Onegin he catches perfectly the character of the proud but immature Lensky.
  The highlight of the tape is the comic aria from Il maestro di musica, sung and interpreted for all ist worth, with Wunderlich evincing a surprising (in view of his Lensky) sense of fun, both visually and vocally, as he demonstrates cadenzas, high notes, soft notes, load notes, etc. to a bevy of pretty girls. His two Mozart arias really do point to him, at least in this repertoire, as the legitimate successor of Richard Tauber.
  Might he have achieved the universal acclaim accorded Pavarotti and Domingo? The only positive thing to be said for an early death is that it freezes an artist in the Public Consciousness. Now forever youthful, Wunderlich (like James Dean or Jean Harlow) can never grow old. All that is left in our collective memory is the audio image of a youthful, exuberant recorded presence, now significantly augmented by these visual images."
• F. Paul Driscoll in "Opera News", qutoed from the BCS catalogue: "For those who like to see their high notes being hit, Bel Canto Society has Fritz Wunderlich Live!, a souvenir of an age where a single superb tenor, working solo, provided sufficient excellence for an evening's entertainment."
• David Patrick Stearns, BBC Music Magazine, qutoed from the BCS catalogue: "Fritz Wunderlich Live! suggests that the great lyric tenor who died aged 35 was a benign presence in excerpts from Magic Flute and Barber of Sevillle. Suddenly there are two excerpts where he performs the role of Lensky in Eugene Onegin, and it's one of those Callas-like experiences of total revelation: the character is laid out for you in all ist loneliness, arrogance and regret."

If you know this video, feel free to add your own comment!

Bel Canto Society Video BCS #654 (47m., available in VHS PAL or NTSC format from Bel Canto Society Inc., 11 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10023, Fax 908-225-1562. Free catalogue available.)

Excerpt on

	Warner Music Vision Laserdisc WPLS-4105 ("Dies Bildnis", with a commentary by Thomas Hampson, on "The Art of Singing - Golden Voices of the Century")
	Warner Music Vision WPVS-4105 ("Dies Bildnis", with a commentary by Thomas Hampson, on "The Art of Singing - Golden Voices of the Century")
	Warner Music Vision/NVC Arts 0630-15898-3 ("Dies Bildnis", with a commentary by Thomas Hampson, on "The Art of Singing - Golden Voices of the Century"; 116m - PAL)
	Bel Canto Society Video BCS #12 ("Konstanze,..." on "Great Tenors Vol. 2", VHS PAL or NTSC)

Fritz Wunderlich Discography