classical music - andante - dietrich fischer-dieskau

THE ORATOR
Introduction | Opinions and Reactions

INTRODUCTION:

For most of us, it is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's singing voice that captured our interest and attention. And for those outside Germany, opportunities to hear Fischer-Dieskau speak have been — and remain — few. Nevertheless, some recordings of Fischer-Dieskau as an orator made their way to English-speaking countries as early as the 1960s, such as Fischer-Dieskau reading Wilhelm Müller's prologue and epilogue to Die schöne Müllerin in his 1961 EMI recording of Schubert's song-cycle. (An earlier DG recording of Brahms' Die schöne Magelone in which Fischer-Dieskau spoke Tieck's accompanying narrative appeared in the US without the spoken parts!)

For those interested in opera, DG's Magic Flute recording, conducted by Karl Böhm, provided the chance to hear Fischer-Dieskau speak Papageno's dialogue, and in the early 1970's, music listeners who bought DG's ambitious Schubert Edition with Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore got to hear Fischer-Dieskau speak Protobavera's text in the delightful little melodrama Abschied von der Erde (D.829).

In the years since Fischer-Dieskau's retirement from singing at the end of 1992, readings, narrations, interviews, lectures and other kinds of commentary have been one focus of his work. For example, since 1993, Fischer-Dieskau has frequently performed Richard Strauss' melodrama Enoch Arden, which he recorded for DG in the mid-1960s, and has given readings on his own (E.T.A. Hoffmann, Thomas Mann) and with others, such as his performances of correspondence by Strauss and Hofmannsthal with Gert Westphal and of Brahms and Clara Schumann with actress Thekla-Carola Wied. In some cases, the readings have been coupled with musical performances. In 2001, for example, Fischer-Dieskau is scheduled to read from the letters of Leopold Mozart in a performance with Mozart songs sung by Julia Varady. Not surprisingly, the readings have been confined to German-speaking countries, but musical performances, such as the speaking role in Schönberg's Gurrelieder have been staged in London. Also in 2001, Fischer-Dieskau will be performing the speaking role of Moses in Schönberg's Moses und Aaron in performances conducted by Kent Nagano.

Some of Fischer-Dieskau's orations have been recorded, such as the reading from the correspondence of Goethe and Carl Friedrich Zelter with Gert Westphal (Litraton, 1995) and the collection of Christmas poetry and stories released by Orfeo (Nacht, heller als der Tag, 1994). A favorite is the collection of music from the time of the Thirty Years War, accompanied by Fischer-Dieskau reading poems by Andreas Gryphius (Die Herrlichkeit der Erden, Muss Rauch und Asche werden, Ars Musici, 1997). There, more than in the other recordings, one can hear how wonderfully Fischer-Dieskau finds the music in Gryphius' words and expresses it without the help of a composer.

Although his work as an oratorr is an aspect of Fischer-Dieskau's artistic activity that may be quite remote from the experience of most of his English-speaking admirers, it is important evidence of the intense involvement with words that imbues all of his musical performances.

Introduction | Opinions and Reactions

OPINIONS AND REACTIONS:

'His voice, in dialogue with actor Gert Westphal, transports the correspondence between Goethe and Zelter, between Richard Strauss and Hofmannsthal, between Nietzsche and Peter Gast, right into the present, so that it is worthwhile to listen.'
—Hans A. Neunzig

Fischer-Dieskau and Gert Westphal

'I am sure it would have been good for me if my father or mother, or one of my many aunts, had enjoyed reading out loud. But I was hardly ever the recipient of such a boon — most likely because I myself was too preoccupied with reading out loud. I had a great yearning to exercise my own voice. And yet I cannot imagine anything more beneficial to a child than to hear good literature read aloud. When I was in the sixth grade, Dr. Mayer, our enterprising German teacher, made us read (unfortunately without acting) classic plays aloud, assigning us roles. It did not take very long for him to discover that I stood out among my fellow students who, stuttering mightily, robbed the reading of any illusion. Because I could read with expression, I was allowed to read the lead part in whatever play we were studying.'
—Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Reverberations

'The reciter has to accomplish yet another cultural-historical rescue action: He has to stand up for the word. In our present cultural-historical situation reciting is irretrievably out of place, and the reciter's smile is directed at just this hopelessness. The artist's nature is full of a spirit of contradiction and he gains self-irony from it. When he is finished and leaves the stage or the podium, he is disturbed by his inaudible cry of disappointment, which has a different tone every time; in such moments nothing would ever make his voice that has just become silent resound once more. It is a joy to known that one is connected in understanding with other interpreters or with individual listeners in the audience. The feeling of being important for someone else is, far beyond all the gratitude that one may receive from others, both fascination and fulfillment.'
—Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Zeit eines Lebens

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