This Sunday (Aug. 29), we feature the German Tenor Fritz Wunderlich. His name calls up contrasting emotions - deep gratitude for all of his more than 100 recordings and the continued pleasure they give us, and inescapable sadness that he died so suddenly from a fall in 1966 at age 36.
But tonight we focus on the pleasure of his recordings, in particular live performances from 1962-1966. At the time of his death from a fall, Rodolfo in La bohème and Wagnerian roles were on the horizon, as was his Met debut as Don Ottavio in October of the year he died, 1966. He was best known for Mozart, and that is our focus on this program.