classical music - andante - dietrich fischer-dieskau

FAMILY HISTORY:

Albert Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born on May 28, 1925, in Berlin. He is the youngest of three sons from his father's second marriage. His father Albert (1865–1937), a classical scholar, was a secondary school principal, and his mother Dora (1884–1966) was a teacher. Fischer-Dieskau's family came from a line of what might be called the 'professional' middle class: teachers, doctors, architects and clergymen; however, his father's mother was a member of the von Dieskau family, whose ancestors include Kammerherr von Dieskau for whom J.S. Bach wrote his Peasant Cantata in 1742.

Edith Schmidt (see Fischer), later a close confidante of her cousin Dietrich, who was younger by some years, was certainly right when she wrote to him: 'Your father lived in a wonderful world; he represented a generation that still had so much strength, which we of 1914 no longer possessed.' There follows a passage that throws a revealing light on the son, so much more insecure because of the times and his own cast of mind: 'for, in addition, as a real Fischer, he kept his own private life inside him, into which not even those closest to him could ever enter.' Thus, Fischer-Dieskau's energy and his tendency to introversion are part of his parental inheritance. How much the singer has drawn on both traits is marked, for taciturnity can also indicate a wish to be private, something that was first notable in his singing, in music-making generally, then later in his painting and his writings.
—Hans A. Neunzig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: A Biography

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau1, 1929

with mother

Family History | Education | Career | Family | Chronology
Awards, Recording Prizes and Memberships

EDUCATION:

Fischer-Dieskau's musical interests and talent were evident early in his life, but he was no child prodigy. He learned to play the piano from his mother and continued to study piano throughout his school years.

He started singing as a child and began formal voice lessons at sixteen with Professor Georg A. Walter. When he was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1943, Fischer-Dieskau had just completed his secondary school studies and one semester at the Berlin Conservatory. He was captured in Italy in 1945 and spent two years as an American prisoner of war. During this time he continued his musical studies on his own and took advantage of every opportunity to perform. After returning to Germany in 1947, he studied briefly with Professor Hermann Weissenborn at the Berlin Conservatory before beginning his professional career. Fischer-Dieskau once said: 'I passed my final exam in the concert hall'.

Family History | Education | Career | Family | Chronology
Awards, Recording Prizes and Memberships

CAREER:

Fischer-Dieskau's professional career as a singer began in 1947 in Badenweiler when he sang in Brahms' German Requiem without any rehearsal — he was a last-minute substitute for a singer who was indisposed. He gave his first lieder recital in Leipzig in the fall of 1947 and followed it soon afterward with a highly successful first concert at Berlin's Titania-Palast.

In the fall of 1948 he was engaged as principal lyric baritone at the Municipal Opera (Städtische Oper) in Berlin, making his debut as Posa in Verdi's Don Carlos under Ferenc Fricsay. Subsequently, Fischer-Dieskau made guest appearances at the opera houses in Vienna and Munich. After 1949 he added concert tours in England, Holland, Switzerland, France and Italy. He made regular opera appearances in Bayreuth between 1954 and 1961 and in Salzburg from 1956 until the early 1970s (he made his Salzburg concert debut in 1951 with Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer under Wilhelm Furtwängler). He garnered great critical acclaim for his detailed, insightful and imaginative interpretations and for the almost infinite variety of colors and shadings in his voice.

As an opera singer, Fischer-Dieskau performed mainly at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He also made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera, at Covent Garden in London, at the Hamburg State Opera, at the great opera festivals in Bayreuth and Salzburg, in Japan and at the King's Theater in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival. His first concert tour in the United States took place in 1955, and he gave his first lieder recital at New York City's Carnegie Hall in 1964.

Fischer-Dieskau's commitment to contemporary music led to his participation in the first performances of works by many composers, including Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, Hans Werner Henze, Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutoslawski, Siegfried Matthus, Winfried Zillig, Gottfried von Einem and Aribert Reimann. As 'the world's greatest Lieder singer' (Time magazine), he regularly sold out concert halls all over the world until his retirement at the end of 1992. The precisely articulated accuracy of his performances, in which text and music were presented as equal partners, established standards that endure today. The current widespread interest in German Romantic art song is mainly due to his efforts. Perhaps most admired as a singer of Schubert lieder, Fischer-Dieskau had, according to critic Joachim Kaiser, only one really serious competitor — himself, as over the decades he set new standards, explored new territories and expressed unanticipated feelings and emotions.

Fischer-Dieskau ended his more than 45 years of concert activity at the beginning of 1993. He made his unannounced farewell to public performance with his participation in a gala concert at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich on December 31, 1992. Since that time he has kept himself fully occupied as a teacher, conductor, reciter and author.

Many of us have spent half our lives with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. We would know a lot less without him, and we would have experienced a lot less. No — we would have lived a lot less.
—Ivan Nagel, Homage to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

I think I can also say that I have never heard Fischer-Dieskau sing without being able to learn something from it. With learning comes feeling. There is no dichotomy here. Intellect and emotion are fused; that is the distinctive mark of the civilised European culture which Fischer-Dieskau throughout his long career has represented so well.
—J.B. Steane, Singers of the Century

Providence gives to some singers a beautiful voice, to some, musical artistry, to some (let us face it) neither, but to Fischer-Dieskau, Providence has given both. The result is a miracle and that is just about all there is to be said about it. It is difficult therefore to write a long notice about Fischer-Dieskau. Having used a few superlatives and described the programme, there is nothing else to do but write 'finis', go home, and thank one's stars for having had the luck to be present.
—John Amis, The Scotsman

Family History | Education | Career | Family | Chronology
Awards, Recording Prizes and Memberships

AWARDS, RECORDING PRIZES AND MEMBERSHIPS (selected):

Awards and Honors

Dr. h. c. der Universität Oxford
Dr. h. c. der Musik der Universität Paris-Sorbonne
Dr. h. c. der Musik der Yale University, US
Dr. h. c. der Universität Heidelberg
Kunstpreis der Stadt Berlin (1950)
Goldener Orpheus der Stadt Mantua (1955)
Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse (1958)
Bayerischer Kammersänger (1959)
Mozart-Medaille, Wien (1962)
Berliner Kammersänger (1963)
Naras Award, USA (1972)
Großes Verdienstkreuz des Bundesverdienstordens (1974)
Léonie-Sonning-Musikpreis, Kopenhagen (1975)
Rückert-Preis der Stadt Schweinfurt (1979)
Preis des Präsidenten der Akademie Charles Gros, Paris (1980)
Ernst-von-Siemens-Preis (1980)
Pour le mérite Deutschland (1984)
Bayerischer Maximiliansorden für Wissenschaft und Kunst (1984)
Stern zum Großen Bundesverdienstkreuz (1986)
Schumann-Preis der Stadt Zwickau (1987)
Hindemith-Preis
Goldene Medaille der Royal Philharmonic Society, London (1988)
Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (1990)
Prix de la critique, Paris (1991)
Ernst-Reuter-Plakette, Berlin (1993)
Lifetime achievement, London (1993) ("The Gramophone")
Wilhelm-Pitz-Preis, Bayreuth (1994)
Ehrensenator der Hochschule der Künste Berlin (1995)
Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, Paris (1995)
Plakette der Freien Akademie der Künste Hamburg (1996)
Grosser Preis der Vereinigung der internationalen Musikkritiker, Paris (1997)
Edison Prize for livetime achievement, Amsterdam (2000)
Echo Klassik Preis for lifetime achievement, Berlin (2000)
Freedom of the city Berlin (2000)

Recording Prizes

Grand Prix du Disque, Paris,. first 1955, after that nearly every year
Electrola Ehrenring (1970)
Goldenes Grammophon der Polydor International (1975)
Edison Prize Amsterdam, first 1961, then several times
Prix Mondial Montreux, several times
Großer Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, several times
Grammy U.S.A., several times
Ten prizes for the Complete Edition of Schubert—Songs for Male Voice (1969–1971)

Memberships

Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, München
Internationaler Musikrat, Deutsche Sektion
Royal Academy of Music London (Honorary Member)
Königlich-Schwedische Akademie Stockholm (Honorary Member)
Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft (Honorary Member)
Internationale Schubert-Gesellschaft (President)
Internationale Schumann-Gesellschaft (Honorary Member)
Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Gesellschaft
Internationale Richard-Strauss-Gesellschaft
Accademia Santa Cecilia Rom
Deutsche Oper Berlin (Honorary Member)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Honorary Member)
Rudolf-Kempe-Gesellschaft London (Honorary Member)

Family History | Education | Career | Family | Chronology
Awards, Recording Prizes and Memberships

FAMILY:

Fischer-Dieskau married the cellist Irmgard Poppen in 1949. The couple had three sons: Mathias (born 1951), a stage designer; Martin (born 1954), a conductor (currently competing for the position of Music Director of the Hartford Symphony); Manuel (born 1963), a cellist (for several years a member of the now-disbanded Cherubini Quartet). Irmgard Fischer-Dieskau died in 1963 of complications following childbirth. Subsequently, Fischer-Dieskau married actress Ruth Leuwerik (1965–1967) and Christina Pugel-Schule, the daughter of an American voice teacher (1968–1975). He has been married to the soprano Julia Varady since 1977.

Fischer-Dieskau and his sons (DFD private)
Fischer-Dieskau and his sons

A father can scarcely hope for more than a trusting friendship with his children. And I am glad that my sons, unlike those in Thomas Mann's family, do not need to jot down notes for future conversations in order to make sure that the flow of words is not dammed up too embarrassingly. We never lacked for things to talk about, especially when there were artistic experiences to be shared. And when we all took our places for an evening of chamber music, we always felt the greatest intimacy, such as nonmusicians can only guess at. Whether Manuel is discussing questions of interpretation in the cello literature with me, or Martin, the conductor, brings into the discussion the interpretation of one or another orchestra leader, or Mathias, the stage designer, raises questions of stage space, or my own experiences on the concert stage serve as a negative or positive model, the exchange is always lively and fruitful. The success all three sons have earned makes my heart glad.
—Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Reverberations

He has been the central encounter in my professional life. The goals I had as a young person were not yet clearly defined. I needed help, someone who would guide me, who would inspire and awaken me, who would help me to develop. My husband was always a mirror who made my strengths and weaknesses apparent to me, and even his criticism was kind and productive. He gave me a lot of encouragement and much good advice about my professional decisions and choices, but he also always criticized me and my performance as a singer. But that's good when the criticism is justified. And it doesn't have to be said in front of other people. Above all he has always complained that my German isn't yet perfect. When someone has lived in Germany as long as I have [he says], they ought to be able to speak impeccable German!
—Julia Varady, interviewed in D. Scholz, Mythos Primadonna

Julia Varady and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

What the children recalled about this period, whether from their own memories or from the stories and surmises of other people (these are very difficult to separate when one is looking back on his own childhood) was their father's long absences. He, on the other hand, remembers quite clearly what happened when he was at home: the puppet-theater he built — a reminiscence of his own artistic beginnings — the first music lessons, and the first practicing on the piano together. There is no doubt at all about the extent of the father's influence on, or example to, his sons. The youngest boy, Manuel, once spoke very openly about his complete identification with his father's art, particularly when the children saw him on the stage or platform, as they often did. At these times he, who was so often far away, was very close to them.
—Hans A. Neunzig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: A Biography

Family History | Education | Career | Family | Chronology
Awards, Recording Prizes and Memberships

CHRONOLOGY:
1925-1963 | 1964-1977 | Since 1978

Early Years: 1925-1963

1925 May 28. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is born in Berlin.
1930 Began school in the primary school in Lichterfelde (Berlin).
1934 First piano lessons.
1941 Begins voice study with Georg A. Walter.
1942 Continues vocal studies with Hermann Weissenborn at the Hochschule für Musik (Academy of Music), Berlin. First public recital in the Community Hall, Zehlendorf: Schubert's Winterreise (interrupted by air-raid alarm)
1943 Abitur (graduation certificate). Meets the cellist Irmgard Poppen. Called up for the Wehrmacht (German Army).
1945 5 May. POW with the Americans in North Italy. First recitals in the camp.
1947 Released from POW camp. Sojourn with the Poppen family in Freiburg (southern Germany). First concerts, e.g. Brahms' German Requiem in Badenweiler. Studies again with Hermann Weissenborn in Berlin. First broadcast in RIAS, Berlin: Winterreise.
1948 Public Lieder recitals. Engaged by Heinz Tietjen for the Städtische Oper (Municipal Opera), Berlin. Debut as Marquis of Posa in Verdi's Don Carlos, conducted by Ferenc Fricsay.
1949 Marries Irmgard Poppen. First appearance in Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder in Heidelberg, Bach's St. John Passion. First gramophone recording for DGG, Brahms' Four Serious Songs. Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin in the Titania-Palast, Berlin. First performance as Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wagner's Tannhäuser, Städtische Oper, Berlin, conducted by Leopold Ludwig. Guest contracts with the Vienna State Opera and Bavarian State Opera, Munich.
1950 First meeting with Wilhelm Furtwängler in Salzburg. Hindemith's Requiem in the Great Hall of Berlin Radio, Dover Beach by Samuel Barber in Titania-Palast, Berlin. Kunstpreis (Art Prize) of Berlin.
1951 Mathias, first son, born. Brahms' German Requiem in Vienna, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. First concert in London: Delius' A Mass of Life, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. First appearance at the Bavarian State Opera as Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser. Debut at the Salzburg Festival: Songs of a Wayfarer, Gustav Mahler, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. First recordings with Gerald Moore, EMI Studios, London. First Count Almaviva in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro at the Städtische Oper, Berlin.
1952 Debut at Edinburgh Festival. Kurwenal in Furtwängler's recording of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. First John the Baptist (Jochanaan) in Richard Strauss' Salome at the Städtische Oper, Berlin, conducted by Ferenc Fricsay. Sings Morone in a Cologne recording of Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina.
1953 First Don Giovanni in Mozart's opera at the Städtische Oper, Berlin, conducted by Karl Böhm.
1954 Martin, second son, born. Debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Wolfram in Wieland Wagner's production of Tannhäuser, conductor Joseph Keilberth, then as the Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin, conducted by Eugen Jochum. First Italian Lieder tour: Florence, Rome, Perugia, Milan, Turin.
1955 First Doktor Faust in Busoni's opera at the Städtische Oper, Berlin. Tour of the US and Canada: Ohio, St. Paul, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Washington, New York.
1956 First Count Almaviva in the Salzburg production by Oscar Fritz Schuh. Tour of the US. Recording of Hans Werner Henze's Five Neapolitan Songs.
1957 First Falstaff in Verdi's opera in the production by Carl Ebert at the Städtische Oper, Berlin. Guest appearance as Renato in Verdi's A Masked Ball at the Hamburg State Opera, after the previous premiere with Wolfgang Sawallisch in Berlin.
1958 First Mandryka in Richard Strauss' Arabella at the Salzburg Festival. Tour of US and Canada.
1959 First Mathis in Hindemith's Mathis der Maler (Mathis the Painter), at the Städtische Oper, Berlin. Lieder recitals in Brussels, London, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Geneva, Lucerne, Paris, Milan, Zurich.
1960 First Wozzeck in Alban Berg's opera at the Städtische Oper, Berlin.
1961 First Onegin in Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin at the Vienna State Opera. Premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Elegie für junge Liebende (Elegy for Young Lovers), Fischer-Dieskau as Gregor Mittenhofer in Schwetzingen. Opening of the Deutsche Oper (German Opera), Berlin, with Mozart's Don Giovanni.
1962 Premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in Coventry Cathedral.
1963 First tour of Japan with Fidelio (Minister) and The Marriage of Figaro (Count Almaviva) in the Nissei Theater, Tokyo. Lieder recitals in Kyoto. Opening of the renovated National Theater, Munich, with Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) by Richard Strauss. Verdi's Macbeth and Falstaff, as well as Gottfried von Einem's Danton's Tod (The Death of Danton) in Berlin. Manuel, his third son, is born. His wife Irmgard dies.

Middle Years: 1964-1977

1964 Premiere of Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Gesangsszene (Song Scene), conducted by Dean Dixon. Recording of Rigoletto on the stage of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Rafael Kubelik.
1965 Premiere of Benjamin Britten's Songs and Proverbs of William Blake at the Aldeburgh Festival, Suffolk, UK. Lieder recitals with Sviatoslav Richter. First guest appearance at Covent Garden as Mandryka in Richard Strauss' Arabella, conducted by Georg Solti. Married Ruth Leuwerik. Macbeth and Don Carlos (Posa) in Berlin. Mandryka in Arabella and Hindemith's Cardillac (title role) in Munich, and Macbeth in Salzburg.
1966 Falstaff (Verdi) in Vienna. Directed by Luchino Visconti, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. German premiere of Sir Michael Tippett's The Vision of St. Augustine. Japan tour with the Deutsche Oper Berlin: La Traviata (as Germont) and Falstaff, conducted by Lorin Maazel. Elegie für junge Liebende (Henze), conducted by Hans Werner Henze. Lieder recitals in Tokyo and Osaka.
1967 Falstaff at Covent Garden, conducted by Edward Downes. Gerald Moore's farewell concert in London with Victoria de los Angeles and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Lieder recitals in New York and Washington.
1968 Wotan in Wagner's Rheingold at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Lieder recitals in New York with Leonard Bernstein. Dress rehearsal and premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Das Floss der Medusa (The Raft of the Frigate Méduse) in Hamburg.
1969 Doktor Faust in Busoni's opera, concert performance in Munich, conducted by Ferdinand Leitner. First Lieder recitals with Daniel Barenboim in London. US tour: Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, California; Tempe, Arizona.
1970 Recording of all Schubert Lieder for the male voice, with Gerald Moore (1970–1971). Japan tour with Falstaff, conducted by Lorin Maazel. Lieder recitals in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Nagoya. London: Recital of Lieder by Webern and Beethoven with Daniel Barenboim (piano), Pinchas Zukerman (violin), Jacqueline DuPré (cello). Hamburg: John the Baptist (Jochanaan) in Richard Strauss' Salome conducted by Karl Böhm.
1971 First visit to Israel: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Mahler). Premiere of Aribert Reimann's Zyklus (Cycle) in Nuremberg. New program: Lieder of the Twentieth Century with Aribert Reimann in Munich, Salzburg, Paris and London. Auf den Spuren der Schubert-Lieder published.
1972 Alfonso in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in Salzburg, conducted by Karl Böhm. Schumann Scenes from Faust in Aldeburgh, conducted by Benjamin Britten.
1973 First recordings as a conductor with the New Philharmonic Orchestra in London: Schubert's Symphonies No. 5 and 8. Premiere: Gottfried von Einem's Rosa Mystica in Vienna, conducted by Karl Böhm. Lieder recitals in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest with Sviatoslav Richter. First meeting with Julia Varady at the rehearsals for Puccini's Il tabarro in Munich.
1974 First appearance as a conductor in the US with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and concert tour with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Premiere Aribert Reimann's Wolkenloses Christfest, Ernst Krenek's Spätlese (Late Harvest), with the composer at the piano. Tio Lukas (the miller) in Hugo Wolf's Der Corregidor (The Magistrate) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, conducted by Gerd Albrecht.
1975 Tour as conductor with the Bamberg Symphony (Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann). Soloist: Jorge Bolet. Premiere: Gottfried von Einem's An die Nachgeborenen (To Those Who Come After) in New York, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini.
1976 First Hans Sachs in Wagner's Die Meistersinger at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, conducted by Eugen Jochum, directed by Peter Beauvais. Penderecki, Magnificat, conducted by the composer.
1977 Richard Strauss' Arabella (with Julia Varady for the first time as Arabella) in Munich. Marries Julia Varady. Recitals in Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) with Sviatoslav Richter.

Late Years: Since 1978

1978 Premieres: Witold Lutoslawski, Les espaces du sommeil (The Spaces of Sleep) in Berlin; Aribert Reimann, Lear (with Julia Varady as Cordelia) in Munich, conducted by Gerd Albrecht.
1979 Berlioz, La damnation de Faust (role of Mephisto) at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Seiji Ozawa. Wagner's Die Meistersinger (for the first time with Julia Varady as Eva) in Munich and Berlin.
1980 Premieres: Ernst Krenek, The Dissembler, in Berlin, Aribert Reimann, Lear — Fragmente in Berlin. First exhibitions of his paintings in Bamberg.
1981 Recordings for the film Elektra after Richard Strauss' opera, in Vienna. Last collaboration with Karl Böhm. Premiere: Siegfried Matthus, Porträt des Holofernes, in Leipzig.
1982 Verdi's Aida (role of Amonasro) with Julia Varady as Aida and Luciano Pavarotti. Premieres: Aribert Reimann, Requiem, in Kiel; Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling, Die Botschaft (The Gospel), in Berlin.
1983 Begins teaching as Professor of Vocal Music at the Hochschule der Künste (Academy of the Fine Arts) in Berlin. Takes over master class for song. First Lieder recitals with Hartmut Höll as accompanist. No more operatic performances. Tour of Japan with exhibition of his paintings: five Japanese towns visited. Further exhibitions in Munich, Berlin, Feldkirch (Schubertiade).
1984 Premiere: Wolfgang Rihm, Umsungen (Re-sung). The number of Lieder recitals (with inter alia, Alfred Brendel, Hartmut Höll, Aribert Reimann, Wolfgang Sawallisch as accompanists) rises to thirty-six this year, not counting orchestral concerts, oratorios and concert performances of operas.
1985 Concert performance (in title role) of Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise in Salzburg. Premiere: Peter Ruzicka, Der die Gesänge zerschlug (The Man Who Demolished Songs), in Berlin. New Lieder program: Lieder of Alban Berg and Schönberg.
1986 New Lieder program: Cycles by Britten, Reimann, Fortner, accompanied by Aribert Reimann. Frank Martin's Golgotha (role of Christ) in Salzburg.
1987 Premiere: Ysang Yun, Fifth Symphony, in Berlin. New Lieder program: Hanns Eisler, Hollywood Tagebuch (Hollywood Diary), accompanied by Aribert Reimann.
1988 Premiere: Siegfried Matthus, Nachtlieder (Night Songs) with the Brandis Quartet, in Berlin.
1989 Concert performance of Wagner's Parsifal (role of Amfortas) in Munich, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Shostakovich: Suite in the Kunsthaus (House of Art), Lucerne, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. Premiere: Aribert Reimann, Shine and Dark, recorded in Berlin, accompanied by the composer.
1991 First public performance of Aribert Reimann's Shine and Dark in the Tonhalle, Zurich.
1992 Public reading of correspondence between Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal with Gert Westphal in the Hebbel Theater, Berlin. Last Lieder recitals in Berlin, Paris, Düsseldorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, London, Feldkirch, Munich, Ludwigsburg, Salzburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart. Once again, Schubert and Brahms (German Requiem) in Tokyo. Last public appearances as a singer: 13 December 1992, 17 December 1992, Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, in Berlin, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy; 31 December 1992, Mozart, Marriage of Figaro (as Almaviva), Finale, Act I, Cosi fan tutte (as Alfonso) excerpts; and Verdi, Falstaff, final monologue and fugue "Tutto nel mondo è burla" (All Life is a Comedy). Retires from singing.
1993 Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau ends his career as a singer.
Since 1994 Increased activity as conductor, reciter, author and teacher of master classes for young singers.

Fischer-Dieskau receiving award (H. Angermaier)

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