Reverberations: The Memoirs of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ruth Hein (Translator)

Book by Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich

Genres: Music

Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

Reviews

[Merreh65 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for opera lovers with lots of stories about all the big
names in opera in postwar WWII Europe. It is never gossipy and very few
intimate details of the author's life are shared--refreshing! Fischer-Dieskau has been one of my favorite male singers and it was fun to read
about how he decided to interpret the music he sang and how he viewed the
operatic characters he portrayed. He is a gentleman and one of the
greatest performers of the 20th century. There was an amazing lack of
bitterness about life in postwar Germany which was very hard on him and all his family.

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The anecdotes were interesting and humourous at times, but I found the writing style to be a little difficult. He often switched topics or stories without fully exploring the first one. For example, he might mention an observation or small detail that I was expecting him to then expound upon. Instead, he abandoned it in favour of another memory. This book is very much a collection of thoughts and memories and the job of putting them together to form a cohesive story is left to the reader.
The writing does get a bit dry sometimes, but when he does reveal his emotions and thoughts he does so with artful concision.

[Andrew Spitznas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant read, in places nicely gossipy about the great names in 20th Century classical music.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Fischer-Dieskau's singing voice. But I was disappointed in his writing; it was very dry.