mentor. His famous recording of Schumann's Dichterliebe remains a gold standard of this genre. Many tenors since have emulated Wunderlich's interpretation of this cycle. Another notable recording he left is J. S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio, with fellow singers Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, and Franz Crass, conducted by Karl Richter. Also he is the tenor on Herbert von Karajan's recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, with Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, and Walter Berry. He recorded an album of pre-Bach sacred songs, featuring music of Schütz, Telemann, Buxtehude, and other less well-known composers. With Christa Ludwig he recorded Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Otto Klemperer. At the time of his death, he had been recording Haydn's The Creation, with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Wiener Singverein under Herbert von Karajan with other soloists Christa Ludwig, Gundula Janowitz, Walter Berry and Fischer-Dieskau. Wunderlich had completed recording his arias, but Werner Krenn was hired to record the recitatives. Several recorded live performances of Wunderlich singing the whole part, under Karajan, survive. Numerous anthology albums of him singing arias from opera and operetta are available. Available videos include a full-length performance (in German) as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville (with Hermann Prey, Erika Köth and Hans Hotter), and a recital of operatic arias. Accidental death Wunderlich sang at the 1966 Salzburg Festival, but two weeks later his career was cut short by an accident while he was on a hunting holiday. He fell from a stairway in a friend's country house in Oberderdingen near Maulbronn owing to loosely tied shoes, fracturing his skull, and died in the University Clinic of Heidelberg just days before his 36th birthday. This occurred a few weeks before his planned Metropolitan Opera debut in New York City as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Wunderlich is buried in Munich's Waldfriedhof cemetery. Notes External links Website of the Fritz Wunderlich Gesellschaft Wunderlich fan's comprehensive website 1930 births 1966 deaths German operatic tenors Deutsche Grammophon artists Lieder singers Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Germany Hochschule für Musik Freiburg alumni 20th-century German male opera singers People from Kusel (district) Burials at Munich Waldfriedhof