Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail Producer: Otto Gerdes. Recording Supervision: Wolfgang Lohse. Recording Engineer: Klaus Scheibe. Dialogue Production: Rudolf Hartmann. All speaking parts performed by actors. Rec. at Bürgerbräukeller, Munich, 1965-12-11 - 1965-12-22.

• Cast: Fritz Wunderlich (Belmonte), Erika Köth (Konstanze), Lotte Schädle (Blonde), Friedrich Lenz (Pedrillo), Kurt Böhme (Osmin), Rolf Boysen (Bassa Selim), Willi Schmitz (Wache), Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper (Chorus Master: Wolfgang Baumgart), Bayerisches Staatsorchester, cond. Eugen Jochum
  • Mozart - Die Entführung aus dem Serail K. 384

• Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski in "Opernwelt", 09/1966: "Fritz Wunderlich is an exemplary Belmonte, masculine, striking and vocally radiant."
• Kenneth Furie in "The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera", New York 1993: "The cast for this first uncut Entführung undoubtably wasn't Jochum's dream assemblage, but he doesn't fret over it. He concentrates on getting the best performance he can out of the people at hand, and what he gets is, I think, the best single Entführung on records. The performance responds more adroitly than any other to immediate situations. It can be broad and full-bodied (Jochum makes choices as big as Beecham's, but he and his people justify them); it can sustain the gentlest melodic line.
  Jochum takes full advantage of the one great singer at his disposal. In the Overture, he phrases the minor-key 'B' section expansively, knowing how gorgeously his Belmonte can match this phrasing when the repitition of 'B' not only turns into the major but turns into Belmonte's opening aria. This is probably Wunderlich's most important recording, in that is does so much to define the possibilities of such an important role. With the unflagging ease and ring of the sound, backed up my explosions of color for moments like 'O wie ängstlich', and with the singer's generous performing disposition, he takes charge of the opera in a most appealing way. The reinstatement of "Ich baue ganz" is a real gain.
  But Jochum is also getting superior performances from his less generously endowed singers. Although you might sooner think of the wiry-toned Erika Köth for Blondchen than for Constanze, she in fact gives a performance of great conviction and sympathy. Kurt Böhme, vocally even less attractive and less limber than 1954 DG's Josef Greindl, also gives a superior performance. In the opening scene, he has found the inner world in which Osmin lives, so that he is truly intruded on by Belmonte and Pedrillo, and an important part of the battle is won. Lotte Schädle and Friedrich Lenz are similarly more alive than many vocally better-endowed Blondchens and Pedrillos.
  The singers, rather than obligatorily discharging the spoken dialogue, have found in it enlivening sources for their musical performances."
• "The Rough Guide to Opera", 1997:"Jochum's recording of Die Entführung was the first entirely without cuts, but at the time of its release this fact made less of a stir than the performance of one member of its cast, the tenor Fritz Wunderlich. In 1965 - the year before his death - he was arguably the world's most famous German tenor and this recording amply proves why. His generous, open-throated voice phrases Belmonte's high-lying music in lines of seamless beauty, and his performance of 'Hier soll ich dich denn sehen', right after the overture, all but steals the show. (Something similar happens in his recording of Die Zauberflöte with Böhm) The remaining cast members have technical shortcomings but their enthusiasm makes up for it, and Jochum conducts with just the right mixture of warmth and theatricality. The sound might be a little close and prone to distortion, but this is one of the greatest Mozart recordings in the catalogue."
• Henrik Engelbrecht in Gramophone's "International Opera Collector", Spring 1998: "Here Wunderlich includes a gloriuos account of the virtuoso 'Ich baue ganz' aria, often cut in both performances and recordings."
• Jürgen Kesting in the booklet of DG 459 027-2 "Centenary Edition: 1965", 1998: "It is unlikely that this music has ever been sung more spontaneously and more eloquently or that the vocal writing in the two bravura arias, 'Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen' and 'Ich baue ganz auf deine Stärke', has ever been invested with such impassioned and ardent expression - what a felicitous combination of naturalness, effortlessness, grace and vocal imagination." [Translation: Stewart Spencer]
• George Jellinek in Gramophone's "International Opera Collector", Winter 1998: "... Because of the many excellent individual contributions of the conductors and singers who have enriched the various versions that followed Jochum's 1965 statement, one is reluctant to bestow the 'best ever' accolade on his 33-year-old accomplishment. The recorded sound ­ fine for its age ­ has been surpassed in terms of brightness, sonic impact and transparency of orchestral detail by the technical achievements of the last two decades. But no recent version beats Jochum's, in my judgement, in terms of his judicious choices of tempo, his relaxed yet ever alert overall pacing, and his just balancing of the score's romantic and comic elements. Without placing special emphasis, as Harnoncourt has done, on the Turkish clangour, Jochum unostentatiously captures the music's essential exotic flavour and, it may be safely said, inspires his singers to do their best.
  The role of Konstanze calls for a soprano voice of some substance ­ a Donna Anna type with an assertive vocal personality, a virtuosic agility and a secure command of the highest register. The voice of Erika Köth is somewhat wanting in substance, but its warmth and easy command of the role's technical requirements offer compensations. Surprisingly, though, her agility does not encompass the required trills. Köth's relatively light timbre does not provide the needed contrast with the Blondchen of Lotte Schädle in the all-important Act 2 Quartet (No. 16), but she rises to her big moments with accuracy and dramatic involvement. Lotte Schädle rates praise in her own right. She displays unaffected charm and, with Jochum's sensible guidance, delivers the perky 'Welche Wonne, welche Lust' (No. 12) at a lively gait without sacrificing articulation.
  It is Jochum's Belmonte who surpasses all recorded competition. The ill-fated Fritz Wunderlich participated in few complete opera recordings during his short life, and this one captures him at his zenith. His full, rich sound lends a virility to Belmonte's character that distinguishes him from other able but less lavishly endowed interpreters. He may not entirely disguise the difficulties of 'Ich baue ganz' but he delivers the aria with boundless breath support and generous legato. Even more important are the convincing romantic ardour of his 'O wie ängstlich', the easily sustained long phrases of 'Hier soll ich dich denn sehen' and the melting lyricism of his 'Wenn der Freude Tranen fließen'. His artistry is graceful but unmannered; his singing is characterized by a freedom from exaggerations and, in this instance, excessive sentimentality, with just the right measure of dramatic accents. There is no problem in differentiating his rich sound from the serviceable Spieltenor utterances of Friedrich Lenz as Pedrillo. This, however, should not diminish the achievement of Lenz, who ably carries his weight and contributes a rich character study in the mock-heroic 'Frisch zum Kampfe' (No. 13).
  An even more important character study is the harem-keeper, Osmin, in whom jollity and danger are intriguingly combined. Gottlob Frick (Beecham/EMI) and Kurt Moll (Böhm/DG) are the recorded models here. By 1965 Kurt Böhme was somewhat past his best years, but he still exhibits the fiery spirit and vocal ripeness that add up to a memorably zesty portrayal. The 'Vivat Bacchus' duet (No. 14) catches him and Friedrich Lenz at their jolly and bouncy best.
  There are certain points in some of the arias (Belmonte's Nos. 15 and 17, for example) where the fermatas cry out for small ornamentations that conductors of Jochum's generation left unobserved but are valued by our current scholarship. Also, the spoken passages are reproduced at a much too low level in the LP edition on which my thoughts are based. (The CD version was never issued in the US.) It is hoped that DG's new remastering will set this matter right, because the dialogues are well done by the singers themselves. [??? A.P.] In summation, it is the overall excellence of the cast, unified by Jochum's wise leadership, that makes this Entführung a 'great performance' for me, to say nothing of the lasting delight in Fritz Wunderlich's contribution."

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	DG 445 684-2 (2 CD)
	DG 439 708-2GX2 Double (2 CD)
	DG 139 213/15 LPEM (3 LP, + "Bastien und Bastienne" without FW)
	DG 139 213/15 SLPEM (3 LP, + "Bastien und Bastienne" without FW)
	DG 2709 021 (3 LP)
	DG 2727 002 Resonance (2 LP)
	DG 2726 051 (? LP)
	ex libris XL 172 521/22 (2 LP)

Highlights on

	DG 423 868-2
	DG 136 429
	DG 2535 277 Resonance
	DG 2545 026 (+ Entführung (Jochum) excerpts, on "FW Singt Mozart - Arien und Szenen aus 'Die Entf. a. d. S. ', 'Die Zauberflöte'")

Excerpts on

	DG 431 110-2 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" and "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" on "Große Stimmen: FW")
	DG 435 145-2 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" and "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" on "FW - 5 CD Set", 5 CD)
	DG 447 684-2 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" and "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" on "Dies Bildnis... - FW singt Opernarien")
	DG 459 027-2 Centenary Coll. ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" and "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" on "DG Cent. Coll. 1965")
	DG 459 068-2 Centenary Coll. ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" and "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" on "DG Cent. Coll. Vol. 4: 1958-1967", + 9 CDs without FW, 10 CDs)
	DG 472 113-2 (7 excertps on "Fritz Wunderlich Edition", 5 CD)
	First Class 435 832-2 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" and "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" on on "Ein Abend mit Fritz Wunderlich", 2 CD)
	DG 135 004 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen", "Konstanze, dich wiederzusehen ... O wie ängstlich", "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen", "Ich baue ganz auf deine Stärke" on "Große Mozartsänger")
	DG 135 127 (on "?")
	DG 136 525 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" on "Zauberreich der Oper - Mozart")
	DG 2535 631 (on "?")
	DG 2548 277 (on "?")
	DG 2562 040 (on "?")
	DG 2563 357 (on "?")
	DG 270 070-9 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen" and "Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen" on "Fritz Wunderlich singt", ? LP)
	DG 2721 230 (on "?")
	DG 643 001 ("Hier soll ich dich denn sehen", + "Zauberflöte" (Böhm) and "La Traviata" (H) excerpts, on "Konzert für Millionen 2 - Weltstars mit Szenen aus berühmten Opern")

Fritz Wunderlich Discography