Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876 – February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist, and composer. He was born in Berlin and left Nazi Germany in 1933. He became a French citizen in 1938 and moved to the United States in 1939. He worked closely with Gustav Mahler, helping perform the first public performances of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde. He held important roles with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others. He made recordings that are important and valuable to music history. Many people believe he was one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.

Biography

Bruno Walter was born near Alexanderplatz in Berlin to a Jewish family from the middle class. He began his musical training at the Stern Conservatory at age eight. At nine, he performed publicly as a pianist. In 1889, he played a concerto movement with the Berlin Philharmonic, and in February 1890, he performed a full concerto with them. He studied composition at Stern with Robert Radecke and remained active as a composer until about 1910. In 1889, he attended a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic led by Hans von Bülow. He later wrote that this experience decided his future. He realized he was meant to be an orchestral conductor.

He made his conducting debut at the Cologne Opera in 1894, performing Albert Lortzing’s Der Waffenschmied. Later that year, he moved to the Hamburg Opera to work as a chorus director. There, he first met Gustav Mahler, whom he greatly admired and later strongly associated with his music.

In 1896, Mahler recommended Walter for the position of Kapellmeister (music director) at the Stadttheater (municipal opera) in Breslau. The theater’s director, Theodor Löwe, required Walter to change his last name from Schlesinger, which means "Silesian," because it was common in the capital of Silesia. Walter suggested several names, which Mahler wrote down and gave to Löwe. Löwe returned the contract with the name Bruno Walter. Walter wrote to his parents that changing his name was "terrible." Mahler and his sisters encouraged him to make the change. It is unknown if Löwe’s request was related to hiding Walter’s Jewish heritage.

In 1897, Walter became Chief Conductor at the municipal opera in Pressburg (now Bratislava). He found the town unexciting and later became Chief Conductor at the Riga Opera in the Russian Empire. While there, he converted to Christianity, likely Roman Catholicism. In 1899, he was appointed music director of the Temeswar Opera (now Timișoara, Romania). In 1900, he returned to Berlin, where he became Royal Prussian Conductor at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, succeeding Franz Schalk. His colleagues included Richard Strauss and Karl Muck. In Berlin, he also conducted the premiere of Der arme Heinrich by Hans Pfitzner, who became a lifelong friend.

In 1901, Walter accepted Mahler’s invitation to be his assistant at the Court Opera in Vienna. He led Verdi’s Aida at his debut. In 1907, the Vienna Philharmonic elected him to conduct its Nicolai Concert. In 1910, he helped Mahler select and coach solo singers for the premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Over the next few years, Walter’s reputation grew, and he was invited to conduct across Europe, including in Prague, London, and Rome. In 1911, after Mahler died, Walter conducted the premiere of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Munich. On June 26, 1912, he led the Vienna Philharmonic in the world premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9.

Although Walter became an Austrian citizen in 1911, he left Vienna in 1913 to become Royal Bavarian Music Director and General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. During this time, he contributed significantly to Wagner performances, as Munich became a center for authentic Wagner performances when the Bayreuth Festival was suspended. Walter was the city’s music director for much of this period and oversaw much of the Wagnerian repertoire.

In January 1914, Walter conducted his first concert in Moscow. During World War I, he remained active, giving premieres of works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Hans Pfitzner, and Walter Braunfels. In 1920, he conducted the premiere of Walter Braunfels’ Die Vögel.

While in Munich, Walter’s most significant achievement was his deep connection to Mozart. He wrote that Mozart was the "Shakespeare of the opera," with dramatic truth in every aspect of his work. In Munich, he was a close friend of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) and Thomas Mann.

Walter ended his Munich appointment in 1922 and moved to New York in 1923, working with the New York Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. He later conducted in Detroit, Minnesota, and Boston.

Back in Europe, Walter made his debuts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1923. He was Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1925 to 1929. He also made his debut at La Scala in 1926 and was chief conductor of the German seasons at Covent Garden in London from 1924 to 1931.

Walter served as Principal Conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1929 until March 1933, when his tenure was cut short by the Nazi government. In the late 1920s, Adolf Hitler, a Nazi leader, complained about Jewish conductors at the Berlin opera and mentioned Walter by name, adding "alias Schlesinger" to his name. When

Work

Walter's work is recorded on many recordings from 1900 to 1961. Most people became familiar with his music through stereo recordings made in his later years, when his health was poor. Some critics believe these later recordings do not fully show how his art sounded during his best years. These late recordings are said to have a friendly tone, which is different from the energetic, intense, and changing performances of his earlier years. Also, his late recordings mostly focus on older compositions, while in his youth he often conducted music that was considered newer at the time.

Walter worked closely with Mahler as an assistant and student. Mahler never performed his Das Lied von der Erde or Symphony No. 9, but his wife, Alma Mahler, asked Walter to premiere both. Walter led the first performance of Das Lied in 1911 in Munich and of the Ninth Symphony in 1912 in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic. Many years later, Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic (with Mahler's brother-in-law Arnold Rosé still serving as concertmaster) made the first recordings of Das Lied von der Erde in 1936 and of the Ninth Symphony in 1938. Both were recorded live during concerts, with the latter recording made only two months before the Nazi takeover forced Walter (and Rosé) into exile.

These recordings are especially important for showing how the orchestra performed and for the strong emotions expressed in the music. Walter later re-recorded both works successfully. His famous Decca recording of Das Lied von der Erde with Kathleen Ferrier, Julius Patzak, and the Vienna Philharmonic was made in May 1952, and he recorded it again in stereo with the New York Philharmonic in 1960. He conducted the New York Philharmonic for the 1957 stereo recording of the Second Symphony. He recorded the Ninth Symphony in stereo in 1961. These recordings, along with his other American recordings, were first released by Columbia Records and later released on CD by Sony.

Since Mahler never conducted the Ninth Symphony or Das Lied von der Erde, Walter's performances cannot be seen as exact copies of Mahler's interpretations. However, because of Walter's close relationship with Mahler and his role in giving the original performances, these recordings have a different kind of authenticity. In his other highly respected recordings of Mahler—various songs and the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Symphonies—there is added interest because he had heard Mahler perform most of these works.

Walter made many well-received recordings of other German composers, such as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Johann Strauss II, and Wagner. He was a leading conductor of opera, and recordings of Mozart's Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro from both the Metropolitan Opera and the Salzburg Festival, Beethoven's Fidelio, and Verdi's Aida are now available on CD. Also of interest are recordings from the 1950s of his rehearsals of Mozart, Mahler, and Brahms, which show his musical priorities and the warm, non-strict way he worked with orchestras.

Walter composed music actively until at least 1910. As detailed in the biography by Erik Ryding and Rebecca Pechefsky, his compositions include:

• Symphony No. 1 in D minor (composed around 1907; premiered in Vienna, 1909; recorded by CPO 777 163–2, 2007)
• Symphony No. 2 in E (composed around 1910)
• Symphonic Fantasia (composed 1904; premiered by Richard Strauss in 1904)
• String Quartet in D major (1903; premiered in Vienna by the Rose Quartet)
• Piano Quintet (premiered in 1905 in Vienna by the Rose Quartet)
• Piano Trio (premiered in 1906 in Vienna by Walter and members of the Rose Quartet)
• Sonata for Violin and Piano in A (around 1908; premiered by Walter and Rose in Vienna in February 1909; recorded VAI vaia 1155, 1997)
• Incidental music for King Oedipus (1910. The production was an adaptation of the Sophocles play by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was directed by Max Reinhardt and premiered in September 1910 in Munich, followed by performances in Berlin, Cologne, and Vienna)
• Numerous songs
• Choral Works

Writings by Walter include:
– Gustav Mahler's III. Symphonie. In: Der Merker 1 (1909), 9–11
– Mahlers Weg: ein Erinnerungsblatt. In: Der Merker 3 (1912), 166–171
– Über Ethel Smyth: ein Brief von Bruno Walter. In: Der Merker 3 (1912), 897–898
– Kunst und Öffentlichkeit. In: Süddeutsche Monatshefte (October 1916), 95–110
– Beethovens Missa solemnis. In: Münchner Neueste Nachrichten (30. Oct. 1920), Beethoven suppl., 3–5
– Von den moralischen Kräften der Musik. Vienna 1935
– Gustav Mahler. Wien 1936
– Bruckner and Mahler. In: Chord and Discord 2/2 (1940), 3–12
– Thema und Variationen – Erinnerungen und Gedanken. Stockholm 1947
– Von der Musik und vom Musizieren. Frankfurt 1957
– Mein Weg zur Anthroposophie. In: Das Goetheanum 52 (1961), 418–21
– Briefe 1894–1962. Edited by L.W. Lindt, Frankfurt a.M. 1969

Notable recordings

• 1935: Richard Wagner, Die Walküre (Act I), performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring soloists Lotte Lehmann, Lauritz Melchior, Emanuel List, and others. (EMI Great Recordings of the Century, Naxos Historical)
• 1938: Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 9, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. (Dutton, EMI Great Artists of the Century, Naxos Historical) (This was the first recording of the work)
• 1941: Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio, performed by the Metropolitan Opera, featuring soloists Kirsten Flagstad, Alexander Kipnis, Herbert Janssen, and others. (Naxos Historical)
• 1952: Gustav Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring soloists Kathleen Ferrier and Julius Patzak. (Decca Legends, Naxos Historical)
• 1956: The Birth of a Performance: Walter’s rehearsals and final performance of Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony, performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. This was a rare example of a performance’s rehearsals and final recording being released on a commercial recording. (Sony Masterworks)
• 1958–1961: Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 4, Symphony No. 6, and Symphony No. 9, performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. (Sony Bruno Walter Edition)
• 1960: Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 3, performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. (Sony Bruno Walter Edition)