Bruno Walter
born Berlin, Sept 15, 1876; died Beverly Hills, Feb 17, 1962
Documents associated with this person:
Leading (later Austrian) German conductor.
Walter worked at the Vienna Court Opera with Gustav Mahler from 1901, became an Austrian citizen in 1911, premiered Mahler's Ninth Symphony in Vienna in 1912, but left Vienna in 1913 for Munich and elsewhere, returning in 1933 but leaving for the USA in 1939.
Walter and Schenker
Walter later claimed to have been influenced by the "deeply perceptive theorist and music philosopher Heinrich Schenker" (Thema und Variationen, p.37; Federhofer, p.264). Schenker is also mentioned in his article "Stehen wir an einem Wendepunkt?" (unidentified periodical of around 1931: OC 2/82). He was peripherally involved in the abortive attempt by Schenker and others to set up an "Organization of Creative and Performing Artists" in 1912.
Walter is mentioned frequently in Schenker's diary between 1912 and the early 1930s. Schenker's view of Walter's attitudes and musicianship was generally favorable.
Correspondence
No correspondence between Walter and Schenker is known to survive; there exists correspondence with Moriz Violin as OJ 70/44 (3 items: 1934, 1951, 1953).
Sources:
- Walter, Bruno, Thema und Variationen (Frankfurt, 1947)
- Federhofer, Hellmut, Heinrich Schenker nach Tagebüchern und Briefen ... (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1985), esp. pp. 264-66
- NGDM2