This morning, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, described once as "the most influential singer of the 20th Century", passed away just ten days before his 87th birthday.
While many people did not care for the quality of his voice, that he himself once compared to the gentle hum of an oboe, it is undeniable that he left a legacy that is perhaps unmatched. He is the single most recorded singer in history and he has brought the art of Song to the masses single handedly.
What Pavarotti did for opera, Fischer-Dieskau did for song. He took what was for all intent and purpose a dying art form, and revived it through his phenomenal word colouring, his unmatched text understanding, and his impeccable style. He was an artist, a scholar, and a pioneer. He pioneered not only in the interpretation of song, but also in the way the classical music industry records music, all this while maintaining a standard of artistic integrity that few singers, nay musicians, have ever matched.
I am not going to discuss the synopsis of his life; that can be found on a number of websites, and will certainly be discussed in the coming days, but I will leave you all with one slightly more personal bit of information.
He is the single most influential singer in my life. As a teenager, my parents gave me a recording of Fischer-Dieskau singing Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin and it was this gift that spurred what would become a life long love affair with Song, more specifically Lieder, and in effect, the German language as a whole.
The gentleness of tone, the undiluted sensitivity, and the naturalness of his use of words that Fischer-Dieskau was capable of will continue to inspire me every day of my life. Luckily he will live on in his recordings, his writings and his paintings.
He will not be forgotten.
R.I.P.
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A worthy salutation Chris, thank you.
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