Aribert Reimann was known equally as a composer and as a vocal accompanist; in the latter sphere, he was especially closely associated with the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The composer of operas and vocal music based on major literary works, not only German ones, he was also an important educator.
Reimann was born in Berlin on March 4, 1936. He grew up amid the desperate circumstances that prevailed toward the end of World War II, and a bleak atmosphere in much of his music has been attributed to his experiences at that time. After the war, at age ten, he performed in ...