What is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau?
[[Image:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.jpg|thumb|Fischer-Dieskau in 1985]] '''Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau''' (born 28 May 1925 in [[Berlin]], died 18 May 2012 in [[Berg, Upper Bavaria|Berg]], [[Upper Bavaria]]) was a German [[baritone]] singer. For more than 30 years he was thought of by many as the greatest male singer in classical music. He was particularly famous for his singing of [[Lieder]] (German art songs), but he was also a superbly great singer of [[opera]] as well as a concert singer with orchestras. Later in his career he also [[conducting|conducted]]. Fischer-Dieskau had a lyrical baritone voice, not a powerful, heroic voice like a [[Heldenbarton]]. In spite of that he recorded many operatic roles which are traditionally thought of as being for Heldenbariton: Wotan in [[Richard Wagner]]'s [[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Ring Cycle]], Hans Sachs in [[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg]], Amfortas in [[Parsifal]], Macbeth in [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi's]] opera etc. He is the most recorded singer of all time.<ref>Matthew Boyden. The Rough Guide to Opera 3rd Edition London: Rough Guides Ltd., 2002</ref> He sang in many languages as well as [[German language|German]]: [[French language|French]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]. ==Early years== Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin. His parents were teachers. He started singing as a child and began voice lessons at the age of 16. He had to join the German army (the [[Wehrmacht]]) during [[World War II]], in 1943. He had only just finished school. He was captured in [[Italy]] in [[1945]] and spent two years as an American [[prisoner of war]]. During that time, he sang Lieder in [[POW]] camps to homesick German soldiers. ==Career== In 1947 he returned to Germany where he started his professional career singing the baritone solo in [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]' ''[[A German Requiem (Brahms)|Ein Deutsches Requiem]]'' without any rehearsal. (He was a last-minute substitute for a singer who was ill.) He