Peter Schreier (29 July 1935 – 25 December 2019)[1] was a German tenor in opera, concert and lied, and a conductor. He was regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of the 20th century.[2]
Schreier made many recordings, especially of Bach's works as both a singer and a conductor, even simultaneously. He recorded many lieder including the song cycles by Schubert and Schumann. He was known for intelligent understanding of texts and their musical expression with intensity. Schreier received awards including the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, Léonie Sonning Music Prize.
Early life
Schreier was born in Meissen, Saxony, and grew up in the village of Gauernitz [de], near Meissen, where his father was a teacher, cantor and organist.[3] In June 1945, when Schreier was almost ten years old, and just a few months after the destruction of Dresden, he entered the boarding school of the Dresdner Kreuzchor boys' choir.[3][4] Its conductor Rudolf Mauersberger recognized his talent. He let him sing many solo alto parts and created compositions with his voice in mind.[3] Solo recordings from the time (1948–1951) were reissued on compact disc.[1]
Schreier was 16 years old when his voice broke, and he became a tenor, as he had passionately wished, because of the several Evangelists – all tenors – in J.S. Bach's Passions and in his Christmas Oratorio. After he had decided to become a professional singer he took voice lessons, privately from 1954 to 1956,[4] then at the Musikhochschule Dresden, where he also studied conducting.[1]
In June 2000, Schreier left the opera stage.[4] His last role at the Berlin State Opera was Tamino; he argued that he could no longer pretend to be a young prince. He ended his singing career on 22 December 2005, combining the functions of Evangelist and conductor in a performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Prague. He kept singing lieder, a genre he had pursued throughout his career, including the song cycles by Schubert and Schumann.[2]
From the early 1970s, Schreier was also a conductor with a special interest in the works of Mozart, Bach, and Haydn.[11] He conducted orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic.[2]
Personal life
Schreier was married and lived in Dresden from 1945 until his death, in the district of Loschwitz.[2] He died in Dresden on Christmas Day, 25 December 2019, after a long illness.[6]
He was survived by his wife, Renate, and two sons, Torsten and Ralf.[12]
The funeral service took place at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden on 8 January 2020.[13]
Evaluation
Schreier was an extremely intelligent singer, with sympathetic feeling for the text.[14]Monika Grütters, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, summarised after his death that he was one of the most impressive voices from Germany ("eine der eindrucksvollsten Stimmen unseres Landes"), who represented Germany in the opera houses of the world as a nation of culture ("für die Kulturnation Deutschland gestanden"), remembered as the Evangelist in Bach's Passions, and having written music history in a career of four decades.[1]
Honours and awards
Kammersänger (title conferred to singers of outstanding merit) by the governments of the GDR, Austria and Bavaria, 1963, 1980, 1982[4][15]
^ abcTewinkel, Christiane (29 July 2015). "Der Neonhelle". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Berlin. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
^ abcdefghijklmnBoisits, Barbara (2019). "Peter Schreier". Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online (in German). Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
^Warrack, John; West, Ewan (1996). "Peter Schreier". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford University Press. p. 464. ISBN978-0-19-280028-2. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
^ abBaumgartner, Gabriele; Hebig, Dieter, eds. (2012). "Peter Schreier". Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR. Band 1+2. Walter de Gruyter. p. 813. ISBN978-3-11-169913-4.
