“I don’t see Lear as weak. He is a violent man, I am sure.”

Simone Young wanted to do Reimann’s Lear in Hamburg and she asked me if I would consider the role. Of course, I knew it from the legendary recording that Fischer-Dieskau made 35 years ago. I had a look at it and said, “I think it’s possible for my voice to do this.” You say always, yes, without really knowing how difficult it is to learn. When I started, at first I must say I regretted taking it on. It’s really so, so, so difficult! In the beginning I don’t know how many times I threw the score in the corner! I thought it was unsingable.

Lear is one of the most performed modern German operas. There have been 34 new productions since its premiere, so it’s quite a successful opera. Of course, you see pictures of Fischer-Dieskau with the long white beard and hair, but that was exactly what I definitely didn’t want to do. Lear should be a normal person. It has nothing to do with age in my opinion. It’s about someone who wants to put a figure on how much his daughters...