He was a Bohemian operatic tenor who sang
leading roles for more than 30 years at the Vienna Staatsoper in Austria. He was
a highly regarded interpreter of the vocal music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and
the lighter tenor roles composed by Richard Wagner. Walther also created the
role of Assad in the world premiere of Karl Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba and
performed in some Italian and French operas. After retiring from the stage in
1887, Walter toured Europe as a lauded
recitalist of lieder, premiering numerous songs by Johannes Brahms and Antonín
Dvořák. He became a celebrated pedagogue, teaching voice at the Vienna
Conservatory for more than two decades. As a young man, Walter studied violin
at the Prague Conservatory. However, under pressure from his parents, he
abandoned his musical pursuits and entered the Prague Polytechnic Institute to
study engineering. After finishing his studies, he became the engineer for a
sugar factory in his hometown of Bílina. He sang part-time in a male quartet in
Prague while
working as an engineer. His excellent natural voice was discovered by Franz
Vogl who immediately offered to become his teacher. For many years, music
historians believed he had studied with Johann Friedrich Samuel Johann but
recent scholarship has confirmed that his studies were entirely with Vogl. In
1855, in Brno,
Walter made his operatic début as a lyric tenor in the role of Edgardo in
Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The following year he moved to Austria due to
the persuasion of soprano Rosa Czillag. He promptly joined the Vienna
Staatsoper, singing there for the next thirty one years in primarily leading
roles. His first role with the company was Gomez in Conradin Kreutzer's Das
Nachtlager in Granada.
Walter became a highly popular Mozart singer and notably performed the role of
Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in 1869 for the opening of the new opera house in Vienna. He also found
success in several Wagner roles. He sang Walther von Stolzing in the somewhat
ill-fated Viennese première of Wagner's Die Meistersinger (1870), the title
role in Lohengrin, and the role of Loge in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre.
In 1875 he origninated the role of Assad in the world premiere of Karl
Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba opposite Amalie Materna as the Queen of Sheba. In
1882, he sang Alfonso in Vienna's
first performance of Franz Schubert's Alfonso und Estrella. His other notable
roles with the company included Manrico in Verdi's Il trovatore (1859), the
Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto (1860), Riccardo in Verdi's Un ballo in
maschera (1866), and Vasco da Gama in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine (1866) among
others. Walter also periodically performed in opera houses in Germany and Bohemia. He sang with the Munich Court Opera
in 1868, with Oper Frankfurt in numerous operas between 1864–1882, the Wiesbaden
Opera House in 1874-75, the opera house in Brno
in 1875, and the National Theatre in Prague
in 1885. Some of the roles he sang in these houses include Raoul de Nangis in
Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, George Brown in Boïeldieu's La dame blanche, Tamino
in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio, and the title
role in Gounod's Faust. Walter retired from the stage in 1887, with his last
performance being as Wilhelm Meister in Ambroise Thomas's Mignon at the Vienna
Staatsoper. He was appointed an honorary member of the Vienna Staatsoper upon
his retirement. Walter then embarked on a famous series of lieder recitals
throughout Europe, notably premiering several songs by Johannes Brahms and
Antonín Dvořák. He had previously sang in the premiere of Brahms'
Liebeslieder-Walzer and Dvořák dedicated his Cigánské melodie (Gypsy Songs, 1880)
to him. His recital tour took him to London
in 1872 and he appeared with the London Philharmonic in a concert of songs by
Mozart, Carl Riedel, and Anton Rubinstein. In 1891, Walter performed at the
Salzburg Festival for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mozart's
death. He gave numerous concerts in Munich and Dresden between
1881-1888. One of his last recitals was in Graz in 1897. Although he stopped giving solo
recitals in the late 1890s, he continued to perform with others well into the
next century and the beauty of his voice remained with him into the latter
years of his life. At the age of 71, in 1905, he made three recordings,
including one of an aria from Mignon. Although past his prime, "the voice
is well preserved and the style both expressive and elegant". Music
historians value these discs highly because in addition to their artistic
merits, they preserve authentic 19th-century performance practices and singing
styles. In addition to performing, Walter spent much of his time teaching after
his retirement from the operatic stage. He was a professor of voice at the
Vienna Conservatory from 1882 until just a few years before he died in 1910, in
Vienna. His
children, Raoul Walter (1865–1917) and Minna Walter (1863–1901), were also
successful opera singers.
Wikipedia.org
Chronology of some appearances
1855 Brno Opera
1856-1887 Vienna Staatsoper
RECORDING FOR SALE
Grammophon, Wien, 1904
Am Meer (Schubert) 042097 332i
Wiener Phonogrammarchiv, Wien 1906
Lohengrin (agner): Nun sei bedankt 238
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