Hi all,

I published this 12 years ago on Opera-l and just discovered it
again. Please feel free to comment!

Celia

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After reading John Steane's book about Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's
recordings, I began to wonder what might have happened if Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau had fallen sufficiently under the influence of Walter
Legge to adopt the idea of confining himself to a half-dozen opera
roles and concentrating the rest of his efforts on Lieder and
oratorio.

First question: What would the six opera roles have been?

Second question: What would Fischer-Dieskau's career have been like?

After giving the matter some thought, I offer the following 4 possible
scenarios for your consideration:

1. In 1965, in the midst of a magnificent career, his voice sounding
exactly the way it did the day he began, Fischer-Dieskau gives in to
unspeakable boredom and abandons his singing career to take up
conducting. In 1996, he is a highly-respected and much-recorded
conductor, but voice connoisseurs still shake their heads over the
premature loss of a superb singer and speculate about the abrupt and
mysterious end of his singing career. Asked about this on the
occasion of his 70th birthday in 1995, Fischer-Dieskau replies: "It's
none of your business."

2. In 1965, in the midst of a magnificent career, his voice sounding
exactly the way it did the day he began, Fischer-Dieskau gives in to
unspeakable boredom, abandons music all together and enters politics.
Using his immense popularity as a singer as a spring board, he is
easily elected chancellor of West Germany. By 1970, the two Germanies
are re-united, and in 1996, all of Europe speaks German. When asked
by a music journalist why he abandoned his career as a singer, F-D
replies: "I don't remember."

3. In 1965, in the midst of a magnificent career, his voice sounding
exactly the way it did the day he began, Fischer-Dieskau, in the grip
of unspeakable boredom and in despair after his wife's death, looks
back in horror at what he now perceives as the wasteland of his
career and turns on Walter Legge. The next morning the newspaper
headlines scream: "Fabled singer slays recording exec, self!"
Interviewed by the police, Mrs. Legge, easily falling back into old
habits, insists that she was sound asleep during the entire incident
and saw and heard nothing. At the double funeral, she is heard to say
to an acquaintance: "Walter Legge was so good to Dieter--I just can't
imagine what went wrong." In 1985, Fischer-Dieskau's eldest son,
Mathias, becomes chancellor of West Germany. In due course, the two
Germanies are re-united. In revenge for the elder Fischer-Dieskau's
death, Germany nukes England and World War III ensues. When it is all
over, what's left of the world speaks German.

4. In 1997, Fischer-Dieskau, at the end of a magnificent career,
during which he sang every German song ever written at least twice
and recorded "Winterreise" 78 times, announces his retirement from
singing. His career ends with a gala performance of "Le Nozze di
Figaro," during which F-D delivers his 5,555th performance as Count
Almaviva, singing this evening opposite a 68-year-old Hermann Prey as
Figaro. Asked by an interviewer why he is retiring, given that his
voice still sounds exactly as it did the day he began, Fischer-
Dieskau states: "I had to stop. I couldn't stand this a moment
longer." Hermann Prey is heard to comment: "Thanks to the fact that I
followed Dieter's example and confined myself to singing only six
opera roles, my voice is in such good shape that I expect to be
able to sing until I am 98." When this is reported, voice
connoisseurs all over the world, who the day before had been
overjoyed at finally being rid of Fischer-Dieskau, begin shooting
themselves.

So, dear friends, what would the six opera roles be, and what do
*you* think would have happened?