Walter, Bruno, 1876–1962, German-American conductor, b. Berlin as Bruno Walter Schlesinger. Walter studied at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. After he had conducted in several German cities, Gustav Mahler appointed him (1901) assistant conductor of the Vienna State Opera, where he remained until 1912. Walter was musical director of the Munich Opera (1912–22) and of the Municipal Opera, Berlin (1925–29), and appeared at Covent Garden and the Salzburg Festival. He made his American debut in 1923. While conductor of the Gewandhaus Concerts in Leipzig (1929–33), he was forced by the Nazis to leave Germany. He returned to the Vienna Opera in 1935 but left in 1938, when the Nazis took over Austria. Walter became a permanent resident of the United States in 1939. He conducted the Metropolitan Opera, the NBC Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and other American ensembles, being permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic from 1947 to 1949. His performances had technical accuracy, controlled balance and inner details, expressive phrasing, rhetorical emphasis, and contrasting power and lyricism. Walter was renowned as an interpreter of the German and Austrian classics and was a friend and champion of Mahler. He wrote Gustav Mahler (tr. 1941), an autobiography, Theme and Variations (1946), and Of Music and Music-Making (1961).

Walter, Bruno

orig. Bruno Walter Schlesinger

(born Sept. 15, 1876, Berlin, Ger.—died Feb. 17, 1962, Beverly Hills, Calif., U.S.) German-born U.S. conductor. An associate of Gustav Mahler, he was long a faithful proponent and interpreter of Mahler's music, giving the world premieres of Das Lied von der Erde (1911) and the Symphony No. 9 (1912). He held positions in Munich (1913–22) and at Covent Garden (1924–31), but thereafter he served more often as a guest conductor than a music director. After moving to the U.S. in 1939, he often conducted the New York Philharmonic (recording as the Columbia or CBS Symphony), the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and he was admired for the warmth of his interpretations, primarily of the Viennese school.

Walter, Bruno (b. Bruno Walter Schlesinger) (1876–1962) conductor; born in Berlin, Germany. A protégé of Mahler, he was in charge of the Munich Opera in 1913–22 and from 1919 was chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. International tours won him a worldwide reputation before he fled the Nazis in 1938. Settling in the U.S.A. the next year, he guest-conducted widely over the next two decades, including many appearances at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1947–49 he led the New York Philharmonic. He was best known for his performances and recordings of the Viennese classics from Mozart and Beethoven to Brahms and Mahler.