German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is recognised as one of the greatest singers of lieder of his generation. He was born in Berlin, in 1925, and his fascination with Schubert's songs began when he was still at school. It continued during his years of improvised recitals in a prison camp during the second world war. It then became the focus for his professional career.
By the 1950s he was already established as an opera singer at Berlin, Bayreuth and Salzburg. His repertoire includes all the Schubert songs suitable for the baritone voice, unprecedented in the history of lied singing.
In his book, Auf den Spuren der Schubert-Lieder ( On the Track of Schubert's Songs ), he anaylses the composer's vocal compositions. His findings are based on careful musicological study as well as practical experience in interpretation.
His approach is to recognise words as the decisive factor in the songs' rhythmic and formal thought structures. From this basis he reveals (in Die Winterreise) M├╝ller's text's relation to Schubert's thought processes, offering an interpretation in which the singer's personality never intrudes between the listener and the song.
