Handel/ Wunderlich - Fritz Wunderlich Sings Mozart Contemporaries

This album is the sixth installment of the series dedicated to the SWR recordings of Fritz Wunderlich. It contains arias composed by less known contemporaries of Mozart, including two arias by Alessandro Scarlatii and Handel. Fritz Wunderlich had a bright, albeit entirely too short career. Born to a violinist mother and choir director father, he was enveloped in music from an early age. He was urged to pursue classical voice training by a theater troupe who heard him singing as they passed by the bakery where he worked. He was granted a scholarship to the Freiburg Music Academy in Breisgau, and studied there from 1950 to 1955. While there he also studied the classical horn, which explains his incredible breath control. During the remaining decade of his life Fritz Wunderlich gained respect as a Mozart singer, Bach interpreter, and Bel Canto and light opera performer.