WALTER

Bruno Walter was an important conductor whose career spanned almost 70 years. Renowned for his interpretations of Mozart and MAHLER, he was remarkable for his warm yet demanding rehearsal methods and his relaxed manner.

Born Bruno Walter Schlesinger on September 15, 1876, in Berlin, the son of a Jewish shopkeeper, Walter demonstrated his musical aptitude at an early age. He began playing the piano at age four, and at age eight was enrolled in the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. After witnessing a performance conducted by Hans Guido von Bülow in 1889, Walter decided to pursue a career as a conductor instead of as a pianist. He made his conducting debut at the age of 17 in Cologne, with a performance of Lortzing’s opera, Der Waffensmied. Walter’s talent was immediately appreciated, and in the following year he was appointed as a coach at the Hamburg Opera, where he met and worked with Gustav MAHLER. The two enjoyed a close friendship, which lasted until Mahler’s death in 1911. It was Mahler who advised Walter to drop his family name Schlesinger, a change that became official when Walter was granted Austrian citizenship. Mahler appointed Walter assistant conductor and chorus master, and in 1901, Walter joined Mahler in Vienna as his assistant at the Vienna Court Opera.

It was Walter who was to conduct the first performances of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Munich shortly after the composer’s death, and his Symphony No. 9 the next year. He also championed the work of Hans Pfitzner, and gave the first performances of his music drama Palestrina. Walter conducted at the Vienna Court Opera until 1912. From 1913 to 1922, he was music director of the Munich Royal Opera, succeeding Felix Mottl. After leaving Munich, his guest conducting appearances continued to multiply, and on February 15, 1923, he made his American debut as guest conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra.

In 1925, Walter returned to Berlin as director of the Berlin Civic Opera at Charlottenburg. That same year saw the beginning of Walter’s long and fruitful association with the festival in Salzburg. In 1929, Walter left Berlin to assume the direction of the Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig, a post that had previously been held by Wilhelm FURTWÄNGLER.

After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Walter’s contract in Leipzig was terminated. On August 3, 1933, the day the Nazi government issued a decree forbidding him to work, he conducted a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in Salzburg, following which the emotional audience showered him with roses. When the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, Walter had to resign his position with the Vienna Opera and leave Austria. He went to France and, in 1939, to America. He established his residence in California and eventually became a U.S. citizen.

The Metropolitan Opera engaged Walter as a guest conductor, where his first performance, on February 14, 1941, of Beethoven’s Fidelio, earned him 13 curtain calls. Walter conducted extensively in the United States, with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the NBC Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. After 1947, he visited Europe often to conduct, and in the last years of his life he spent time recording some of his favourite works in California with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

His awards and accolades include honorary degrees from UCLA, USC, and the University of Edinburgh, and the Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany. His greatest role was in his unswerving devotion to the music of Mahler and his recordings of Mahler’s work. Bruno Walter died at his home in Beverly Hills on February 17, 1962.

Douglas Dunston

BRUNO

WALTER