The late Herr Fischer-Dieskau is feeling much better, and is up out of his grave, and thanks you all for the flowers and cards. He is merely retired.
He was born in Berlin on 18 May 1925. His first public recital was Schubert's Die Winterreise in 1942: it was interrupted by an air-raid siren. His career took off with his release from a POW camp in 1947.
In 1951 he debuted in Salzburg and in London, and made his first recordings with the legendary accompanist Gerald Moore. If you want to start listening to Lieder you buy a record of Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore doing Schubert: it will be perfect. They all were; and they did a lot of them.
He was one of the soloists in the premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in Coventry Cathedral in 1962.
His roles, premieres, and recordings are far too numerous to list. He retired as a singer in 1993 and is now active as a conductor and teacher.
He was married to the cellist Irmgard Poppen in 1949-1964, two more wives after her, and finally the singer Julia Varady from 1977.