“Peter Schreier, a German tenor renowned for his performances in Mozart operas and Bach oratorios, and for the balance of vocal elegance and dramatic urgency he brought to the German art song, died on Dec. 25 in Dresden, Germany,” writes Anthony Tommasini in Tuesday’s (12/31) New York Times. “He was 84…. Midway through his career, Mr. Schreier also turned to conducting. He would sometimes sing the Evangelist roles in Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John passions as he led the performances. Mr. Schreier’s voice might have lacked the honeyed tone of other tenors who specialized, as he did, in lighter lyric opera roles and German lieder. But he won consistent praise for a combination of technical know-how and musical insight…. The pianist Andras Schiff collaborated frequently with Mr. Schreier in recitals and recordings, performing all three Schubert song cycles with him as well as works by Schumann, Mozart, Beethoven and Janáček…. He was drawn to certain 20th-century German operas, especially the title role of Hans Pfitzner’s ‘Palestrina,’ and sang the Physicist in the 1974 Berlin premiere of Paul Dessau’s ‘Einstein.’ … He retired from singing in 2005 [and] settled with his wife, Renate, who survives him, in a country house outside Dresden.”
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