26/09/2026
Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich
(September 26, 1930 – September 17, 1966)
was a German lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertoire and various Lieder.
Wunderlich was born in Kusel in the Palatinate, Germany. His mother was a violinist and his father was a choirmaster. For a short time, the family kept the inn "Emrichs Bräustübl" (Emrich's Brewing Cottage). Fritz's father lost his job due to pressure imposed upon him by local N***s, in addition to suffering from a severe battlefield injury. He died 1935 by su***de when Fritz was five years old.
Fritz mastered several instruments while still a schoolboy and when he entered the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in 1950, his principal study was the horn. Then the singing teacher Margarethe von Winterfeldt [de] discovered and trained his voice.
In 1956, he married harpist Eva Jungnitsch (1934-2016). The couple had three children: Constanze (born 1957), Wolfgang (born 1959) and Barbara (1964-2022). The family initially lived in Stuttgart, later moving to Munich.
Wunderlich was soon noted as a brilliant young tenor, especially in Mozartian roles, but he later expanded his reach to the full range of the lyric tenor repertoire.
He occasionally sang and recorded minor Wagner roles such as the steersman in Der fliegende Holländer, Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser, and the shepherd in Tristan und Isolde. He sang and recorded the role of the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier.
