Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger in 1876) was a prominent German conductor and composer, renowned for his influence on the orchestral music landscape of the early 20th century. He began his musical education in Berlin and, inspired by conductor Hans von Bülow, shifted his focus from piano to conducting. Walter's career took off after his debut at the Cologne Opera, and he formed a significant mentorship with composer Gustav Mahler, who greatly impacted his musical development. Over the years, Walter held prestigious conducting positions in various European cities, including Munich and Vienna, and later became a notable figure in the United States after fleeing the rise of the Nazi regime.
Walter was recognized for his lyrical interpretations of Romantic music, particularly the works of Mahler, Beethoven, and Brahms. He was instrumental in the first complete performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 9 and later recorded many notable pieces, contributing to the evolution of classical music recording techniques. His conducting style emphasized engaging with the orchestra on a personal level, often instructing musicians to embody the melodies. Walter's legacy endures through his extensive recordings and writings, which serve as valuable resources for understanding Austro-German music and conducting practices. He passed away in 1962, leaving behind a rich musical heritage.
Subject Terms
Bruno Walter
German classical conductor and composer
- Born: September 15, 1876
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Died: February 17, 1962
- Place of death: Beverly Hills, California
As a conductor, Walter was a celebrated interpreter of Austro-German music, and he was a strong advocate of the works of Gustav Mahler.
The Life
In 1876 Bruno Walter (BREW-noh VAHL-tur) was born Bruno Schlesinger to Joseph and Johanna Schlesinger, a middle-class Jewish family in Berlin. Walter learned piano from his mother in his early childhood, and at the age of eight, he entered the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. Although Walter made great progress in piano under the tutelage of Heinrich Ehrlich, he decided to become a conductor after seeing Hans von Bülow conducting an orchestra. Walter made his conducting debut at the Cologne Opera in 1894, and he moved to Hamburg the following year. There, he met Gustav Mahler, who had great influence on Walter’s development as a musician. Walter frequently visited Mahler’s house, where the two men played piano duets and talked about music, literature, and science. Their close relationship continued while Walter worked at opera houses in Breslau (where he changed his surname from Schlesinger to Walter), Pressburg, Riga, and Berlin between 1896 and 1900. In 1901 Walter moved to Vienna to work at the Court Opera, where Mahler was music director, and he remained there for eleven years.
In 1913 Walter became the Royal Bavarian General Music Director in Munich, and he conducted in three opera houses in the city for the next ten years. He directed various German operas, such as Richard Wagner’s Parsifal (1882) and Tristan und Isolde (1859), and the premiere of Hans Erich Pfitzner’s Palestrina (1915). In 1925 he was appointed as music director of the Berlin State Opera, and in 1929 he became the music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Walter made many guest appearances in the 1920’s and early 1930’s, with performances throughout the Europe and the United States.
After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Walter left Germany, and in 1936 he became the artistic director of the Vienna State Opera. During the Anschluss, in March, 1938, when Germany annexed Austria, he fled, eventually settling in the United States, where he became a citizen in 1946. After his arrival in New York in 1939, Walter conducted many American orchestras, such as the NBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1941, conducting Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio (1805). In 1949 he moved to Los Angeles, and he appeared as guest conductor with many prominent orchestras in North America and in Europe. In his final years, Walter made various recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. On February 17, 1962, he died of a heart attack at age eighty-five in Beverly Hills, California.
The Music
During the 1910’s and 1920’s, Walter directed various German operas, such as Wagner’s Ring cycle, and he championed the music of Mahler, making it an integral part of his repertoire throughout his career. Walter became involved in recording in the mid-1920’s, and his involvement continued until the 1960’s, by which time stereo recording technique had been well established. His music is Romantic and lyrical, and Walter frequently instructed the orchestra members to sing the melodies of the music, as seen in videos and recordings of his rehearsals.
Mahler’s Symphony No. 9. Walter gave the world-premiere performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1912. He made a live recording of this work on January 16, 1938, with the same orchestra, and this is the first complete recording of the symphony. Overall, Walter conducted at fast tempi. He performed this symphony in about seventy minutes; it took ten minutes longer when he recorded the same symphony about twenty years later with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. The fast tempi of the earlier performance might reflect the tension at this concert, which took place two months before the Nazis invaded Austria, prompting Walter to leave the country.
The same symphony was recorded again in 1961 in Hollywood with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. The new stereo recording features modern sound quality and well-prepared orchestra playing. Missing, however, is the urgency of the old Vienna recording.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6. After his retirement from concert activities, Walter was approached by Columbia Records to undertake a series of stereo recordings of classical and Romantic repertoires with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, a pick-up orchestra formed by the members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and freelance musicians on the West Coast. The 1958 recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major (1808) represents one of the best among such recordings. Walter’s lyrical interpretation depicts the program music—titled Pastoral Symphony or Recollection of the Life in the Countryside in the first edition—in every respect, as he believed that one must understand nature in order to understand Beethoven’s music.
Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. Recorded in Hollywood, in February, 1959, with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, this performance of Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 in E Minor (1885) embodies the musical style of Walter’s later years. In general, he took slow tempi, and he let the orchestra sing melodies elegantly with frequent use of ritardando (slowing down of the tempo) at the end of phrases, which are not indicated in the score. This style differs from his 1951 recording of the same work with the New York Philharmonic, where the music moves in a faster tempo with less noticeable use of tempo changes.
Musical Legacy
Walter left a large amount of recordings, including stereo recording, because of his long career that lasted until 1961. His repertoire included not only Austro-German music, such as that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, but also the music of Hector Berlioz, Antonín Dvořák, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, and others.
Walter described himself as “educational conductor,” and he trained orchestras by explaining to them in detail the characteristics of the music during rehearsals. This approach, which differed from that of other conductors, who adopted a more authoritative style, became a standard in orchestra rehearsals.
Walter was a writer as well as a performer. His books are great resources for the study of Austro-German music because he witnessed the performances of great musicians in the early twentieth century, an era before recording techniques had been developed.
Principal Works
chamber works: String Quartet, 1903; Sonata in A Major, 1910 (for violin and piano).
orchestral works:Symphonische Phantasie, 1904; Symphony No. 1 in D Minor, 1907; Symphony No. 2 in E Major, 1910.
Principal Recordings
albums (as conductor): Beethoven: Concerto for Violin in D Major, Op. 61, 1932; Wagner: Die Walküre, Act I, 1935; Brahms: Concerto for Piano No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15, 1936; Mahler: Symphony No. 9, 1938; Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21, 1939; Beethoven: Fidelio, 1941; Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Piano No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23, 1948; Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, 1949; Brahms: Concerto for Piano No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83, 1951; Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, 1952; Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24—Spring, 1953; Mozart: Concerto for Piano No. 14 in E-flat Major, 1954; Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, 1958 (Pastoral); Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98, 1959; Brahms: Symphony No. 2 and No. 3, 1960.
writings of interest:Von den moralischen Kräften der Musik, 1935; Gustav Mahler, 1936 (English translation, 1937); Theme and Variations: An Autobiography, 1946; Von der Musik und vom Musizieren, 1957 (Of Music and Music Making, 1961).
Bibliography
Holden, Raymond. The Virtuoso Conductors: The Central European Tradition from Wagner to Karajan. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005. As a professional conductor, the author covers the rehearsal techniques, the performance practices, and other topics of nine European conductors after Wagner, including Walter.
Ryding, Erik, and Rebecca Pechefsky. Bruno Walter: A World Elsewhere. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. A major biographical study based on Walter’s numerous unpublished letters, which are archived at the New York Public Library, and on interviews with more than sixty acquaintances.
Walter, Bruno. Gustav Mahler. Translation from the German supervised by Lotte Walter Lindt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1958. This brief biography of Mahler presents Walter’s recollections and reflections on the master.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Of Music and Music Making. Translated by Paul Hamburger. New York: Norton, 1961. Outlines Walter’s ideas on the education of orchestra members, solidifying his role as an educational conductor.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Theme and Variations: An Autobiography. Translated by James A. Galston. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946. Walter’s autobiography provides detailed information about his life as conductor, and it includes fascinating insights on music and on the musicians of his time.