On Jul 3, 2008, at 5:17 PM, Celia A. Sgroi wrote:

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

I don't remember it from that first posting, but I find this a
fascinating pair of questions. But maddeningly hard to answer.
> 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.
>
I always, by the way, found this idea just preposterous, no matter
how often it is quoted approvingly. No doubt Frau Legge found it
congenial (or did she? we'll never know, I guess). How many great
careers have actually been built on so few roles

> First question: What would the six opera roles have been?
>
This is hard because the roles his voice was best suited for are not
necessarily the ones he did the best, nor are they the ones he was
most interested in. The quality and range of his baritone ought to
have made him perfectly at home in Mozart operas, and yet his
performances of Giovanni, Count Almaviva, and Don Alfonso are not
really satisfying to my ears; only the FLUTE roles came out well:
Papageno (which he refused to do onstage) and the Old Priest (which
he did do, but which is only one scene of recitative). So I'll never
several contrasting lists:

ROLES GOOD FOR HIS VOICE, EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN'T DO THEM ALL THAT
WELL: Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Don Alfonso, Faninal, Dr. Schön,
Mandryka

ROLES THAT HE WAS DRAWN TO, BUT THAT WEREN'T THAT GOOD FOR HIS VOICE:
Renato (Ballo), Germont, Iago, Posa, Hans Sachs, Dutchman.

ROLES FOR WHICH HE WAS SUITED AND WHICH HE DID WELL: Fritz Kothner,
Herald (Lohengrin), Old Priest (Flute), Marcello (Boheme), Peter
(Hansel), Don Fernando (Fidelio).
Ha! Imagine doing just those 6 roles forever -- talk about an
unsatisfying career!
> Second question: What would Fischer-Dieskau's career have been like?
>
I can't improve on Celia's scenarios here, so I won't even try.


Jon Alan Conrad
Department of Music
University of Delaware
conrad@...