Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau holds a record for being the artist who has recorded more single items than any other singer, instrumentalist or conductor in the history of recording. This would be merely a statistic if the overall high quality of his prodigious output were not so consistently high. From his first 78rpm discs of lieder, to his present activity as a conductor, Fisher-Dieskau has been one of the defining presences of post WWII music making.

His studied in his native Berlin before being drafted into the German Army. He was captured by the Allies in Italy in 1945 and after his release he resumed his vocal training. Very soon thereafter he shot to stardom. His concert debut in 1947 was followed by his first stage appearance in 1948. In that same year he broadcast Schubert's Winterreise, beginning a career-long association with lieder in general and Schubert in particular.Fischer-Dieskau would go on to have equally important careers in recital and opera.

Most of his important recording work can be found on the Universal labels with too many memorable portrayals to list here in their entirety, but mention must be made at least of his monumental project of recording the entire lieder of Franz Schubert and memorable operatic portrayals including Gunther in the Solti Gotterdämerung, the title role in Wozzeck and a most sympathetic Papageno in Die Zauberflöte.

Fischer-Dieskau is a celebrated author on music with books on the interpretation and texts of his beloved lieder composers. He has also twice turned to conducting in his career. While he was still actively singing, he made a few appearances and recordings in the 1970s. He resumed conducting full-time after he retired from the concert stage in the 1990s. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is married to the soprano Julia Varady with whom he has often collaborated on stage and in the recoding studio.