The Fates Took Everything From Us (The Life of Fritz Wunderlich)

Author: (Switzerland) Pfitzner, translated by He Miao-sheng and others
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: On September 17, 1966, the most renowned tenor singer from German-speaking countries, Fritz Wunderlich, passed away tragically in an accident. At the time, people commented that the loss to the music world was unpredictable. Nearly 40 years after his passing, it has been discovered that his influence is immeasurable. He left behind no successor. He was a unique singer, an unparalleled artist. His extensive recordings powerfully bear witness to this. This book introduces every stage of the singer's life and his artistic career: his impoverished childhood in Germany before World War II; his student years in Freiburg; his first timid appearance at a small-town concert; and finally, his unprecedented success. This beloved tenor not only won glorious acclaim in Europe's most famous musical cities—Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna, Hamburg, and Berlin—but later also received warm cheers at renowned music festivals such as Salzburg and Edinburgh. The book meticulously describes Wunderlich's unique path to success, objectively narrates spontaneous events, and presents the artist's life with great dedication and objectivity, while also offering commentary. This is not just a biography of our era's most legendary singer but also, through excerpts from conversations with many of Wunderlich's fellow artists, records the most important trends in European music and theater in the 1950s and 1960s and their representatives, such as Wieland Wagner, Günter Rennert, Oscar Fritz Schuh, Rudolf Hartmann, and George Streicher. The book also describes the influence of great conductors like Kleiber, Kempe, Schuricht, Furtw?ngler, Karajan, B?hm, Keibelt, Reiter, Kupelwieser, Ks, and Karl Richter on the music world at the time, as well as on Wunderlich himself.