I appreciate that this thread may be of limited interest. Yet for those of us who love the voice and classical vocal music, Fischer-Dieskau's death today is a significant moment.  He died at his home in Bavaria.  He was 86.  His obituaries are everywhere, including The New York Times.

The Times describes Fischer-Dieskau as "the German baritone whose beautiful voice and mastery of technique made him the 20^thcentury’s pre-eminent interpreter of art songs."  It goes on to note that he was, by virtual acclamation, one of the world’s great singers from the 1940s to his official retirement in 1992, and an influential teacher and orchestra conductor for many years thereafter.”

It goes on to note that he “was also a formidable industry, making hundreds of recordings that pretty much set the modern standard for performances of lieder, the musical settings of poems first popular in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  His output included the many hundreds of Schubert songs appropriate for the male voice, the songs and song cycles of Schumann and Brahms, and those of later composers such as Mahler, Shostakovich, and Hugo Wolf.  He won two Grammys - in 1971 for Schubert lieder, and in 1973 for Brahms’ Schöne Magelone.”

It also observes that “Fischer-Dieskau had sufficient power for the concert hall and for substantial roles in his parallel career as a star of European opera houses.  But he was essentially a lyrical, introspective singer whose effect on listeners was not to nail them to their seat backs, but rather to draw them into the very heart of song.”

My sense is that Fischer-Dieskau was perhaps the defining lyric baritone for the 20^th century.  I recognized his sound in many post-WWII baritones.  Perhaps many folks here were exposed to his voice on the soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s film, War Requiem.

The American baritone Thomas Hampson has written (on his Facebook page) a tribute to Fischer-Dieskau:

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925 - 2012)
A Singer for the ages, an Artist for eternity………...

Few artists achieve the level of recognition, admiration and influence of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and even fewer live to see that influence realised during their own lifetime. Ushering in the modern recording era, he challenged our perceptions and processes of how recordings could be made, explored the possibilities of modern recording and exploited the potential for popularity of classical music; and all this while setting standards of artistic achievement, integrity, risk-taking, and the aesthetic ideal that became our new norm.

Whether we bask in the beauty of his tone, revere the probing, questioning power of his intellect, or simply wonder at his astonishing physical abilities through all that he achieved in his long recording career, we must also pause and say 'Thank you' to this great artist, whose legacy, like a great and bright star lighting the way for those who follow in his passion for singing, is exemplary in every way.

A Hero has passed. May he rest in peace.