The internationally acclaimed baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in
1929. He made his breakthrough in 1956 as Figaro in the Vienna State
Opera's production of Rossini's "Barber of Seville". His resounding success
as Figaro in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1969 staging of Rossini's "Barber of
Seville" at the Salzburg Festival stamped him as the Figaro of that era.
Recorded a few years later by Unitel, this production has taken on an
almost legendary status. Prey soon became a Mozart singer par excellence,
portraying Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Almaviva ("The Marriage of
Figaro"), Papageno ("The Magic Flute") and, of course, Figaro. His
unforgettable interpretation of this role in Ponnelle's production of "The
Marriage of Figaro" is preserved for all times by Unitel in a 1976
recording with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kiri Te Kanawa and Mirella Freni.
Prey also enjoyed great popularity in the United States, appearing in
operas in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Houston and New York. After his
Met debut as Wolfram in "Tannhäuser" in 1960, he regularly sang at that
house until 1995.
In addition to Mozart and Rossini, Prey's other favorite composers included
Lortzing, Donizetti, Strauss and Wagner. Prey made his Bayreuth debut in
1965. It was there that he transformed the Meistersinger's Beckmesser into
a sympathetic figure, a poet tinged with melancholy, in Wolfgang Wagner's
early 1980s production. This performance is also preserved on film by
Unitel.
Hermann Prey was never exclusively an opera singer, however. His other
specialty was the German song. As a kind of ambassador of the German lied,
he filled concert halls all over the world. Prey sang Schubert and
Schumann, Brahms and Mahler in a way that always emphasized naturalness
and spontaneity over analytical profundity and scholarship. But his
inquisitiveness also led him to explore the treasures of the German song
from the Middle Ages to the present day. A special fondness for Schubert
moved him to set up a Schubert festival in the Austrian town of Hohenems,
where he planned to perform all of Schubert's works. His interpretations of
Schubert's songs have - with those of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - set
standards for lieder singing in the 20th century. Unitel is proud to offer
Prey's recordings of Schubert's "Die schöne Müllerin", "Schwanengesang" and
"Die Winterreise" on video, as well as lieder by Robert Schumann and
Richard Strauss.
