Wunderful Wunderlich

June 13th 2005, by Tobias |

A box set celebrates one of the greatest tenors

Fritz Wunderlich may well be called the "James Dean of Classical Singing". Just like the American actor who captured the imagination of a whole generation, performed in a handful of groundbreaking movies and then died tragically, Wunderlich reached for the stars and seemed to take the world by storm. He was quickly regarded as the principal Mozart-performer of his time and his reputation even survives today, with him ranking high in many different popularity polls. The fairy tale came to a sudden end, when Wunderlich fell down a flight of stairs and died instantly.

Up to now, there was a strange disparity: On the one hand, fans continued to spread the word about their idol on the internet, in fan clubs and by means of organisations. There is even a page run by a psychic medium who claims to be in spiritual contact with the singer. On the other hand, there were hardly any albums to be bought in the shops. Wunderlichs daughters already pointed to this situation in an interesting interview conducted by amazon.de. The Deutsche Grammophon has finally ended this dilemma: "Musical Pearls" is a seven CD-box featuring the complete oeuvre of the singer and should bring his artistry closer to both a generation of admirers and young listeners. Just as James Dean is still being rediscovered by teenagers today, Fritz Wunderlich, already an icon, could once again become an idol.

Homepage: Deutsche Grammophon
Homepage: Fritz Wunderlich - The Great German Tenor (Fanpage)
Homepage: The Fritz Wunderlich Society
Homepage: The Fritz Wunderlich Survival Page
Homepage: Interview with Constanze and Barbara Wunderlich by amazon.de