Bruno Walter (1876-1962) began his musical education at the age of eight at the Stern Conservatory. When he was nine, he made his first public appearance as a pianist. Following visits to one of Hans von Bülow's concerts in 1889 and to Bayreuth in 1891, Walter decided upon a conducting career. In 1901 Walter joined Gustav Mahler at the Court Opera in Vienna. In the following years, which were formative ones for Walter's international career, he was invited to conduct in Prague, London (where in 1910 he conducted Tristan und Isolde at Covent Garden) and Rome. A few months following Mahler's death in 1911, Walter led the first performance of Das Lied von der Erde in Munich, and in
Vienna the following year the first performance of the Ninth Symphony,
having also prepared the score for publication. Walter became an Austrian
citizen in 1911, officially changing his last name from Schlesinger to
Walter. In 1913 he left Vienna to become musical director of the Munich
Opera, remaining there until the end of 1922. In 1923 he visited the
United States to conduct the New York Symphony Orchestra, and was
re-engaged for the following season. Further guest appearances in Europe
included several with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra. In London,
Walter was chief conductor of the German seasons at Covent Garden from
1924 to 1931. In 1925 he returned to Berlin as musical director at the
Städtische Oper, Charlottenburg, and also began his long association with
the Salzburg Festival. In 1929 Walter left Berlin for Leipzig to succeed
Wilhelm Furtwängler as director of the Gewandhaus concerts.
In 1933, when the political situation became impossible for him, Walter
left Germany for Austria. This was to be his main center of activity for
the next several years, although he was also a frequent guest conductor of
the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1934 to 1939, and made guest
appearances elsewhere, including annual visits with the New York
Philharmonic from 1932 to 1936, and in Florence in 1936. At the Vienna
Staatsoper he was guest conductor from 1935 and artistic adviser from
1936. In 1938 the Anschluss uprooted him once more. Walter was granted
French citizenship, but settled in 1939 in the United States. During his
American years he conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York
Philharmonic (where he was musical adviser from 1947 to 1949), and the
Philadelphia Orchestra, among others. Between 1941 and 1959 he also
conducted at the Metropolitan Opera. Beginning in 1947, he made numerous
return visits to Europe, becoming an important figure in the early years
of the Edinburgh Festival, and returning to Salzburg, Vienna and Munich.
Walter's Mahler recordings contributed to the eventual, if somewhat late,
acceptance of the composer, while a generation of opera-goers was treated
to his performances of Wagner and Strauss. Walter was also a very capable
pianist who occasionally conducted Mozart concertos from the keyboard and
accompanied lieder singers including Kathleen Ferrier. |
