State Library takes over Fischer-Dieskau's estate
The estate of singer, conductor and writer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who died two years ago, has been donated to the Berlin State Library by his widow Julia Varady.
The contents of over 100 estate boxes - comparable to around 20 moving boxes - are now being sifted through and prepared for entry into the estates database. The estate includes numerous music prints with handwritten notes, including many songs and extensive correspondence with musicians, concert agencies, companies and admirers. There are also manuscripts of his lectures, essays and books, as well as contracts, photos and many records and CDs.
A special piece of the estate is a concert grand piano that the singer bought at the beginning of his career in the 1950s. The gold-colored metal frame inside bears the signatures of many fellow artists, including Jörg Demus, Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Barenboim, Arnold Schönberg, Wilhelm Kempf, Aribert Reimann and others.
During his lifetime, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012) had stipulated that his estate should remain in his hometown of Berlin, where he experienced many of the highlights of his career, and that it should be made available for research. He had held a professorship at the Berlin University of the Arts since 1983.
