WALTER, BRUNO. (1876-1962). German conductor of symphonic and operatic music; one of the most beloved musicians of the twentieth century. Original drawing, signed. (“Bruno Walter”). 1p. Folio. N.p., 1929. A portrait of Walter (head only) drawn in ink and signed and dated by the artist. Walter has added his signature underneath the drawing. Although he began his training as a pianist, Walter decided at an early age to pursue conducting, making his debut at the Cologne Opera at the age of 17. After working under Mahler and seasons at Pressburg, Riga and Breslau, Walter retuned to Berlin, joining Mahler at the Vienna Court Opera the following year. It was during this period that he solidified his reputation and conducted across Europe. Several years after Mahler’s death, Walter became the Munich Opera’s musical director, a position he held from 1913 to 1922. “In 1923 he visited the USA to conduct the New York SO and other orchestras, and was re-engaged for the following season,” (TheNew Grove Dictionary). From 1925 to 1929 Walter directed the Berlin Städtische Oper, leaving in 1929 to become the director of Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. In his biography Walter writes, “I parted from the Berlin Municipal Opera after an activity of four years. I again chose Fidelio for my farewell performance. While I kept my apartment and continued in charge of my concerts with the Philharmonic Orchestra, I conducted an opera in Berlin but once thereafter, Weber’s Oberon, as a guest of the State Opera,” (Theme and Variations: An Autobiography, Walter). Walter left Germany following the rise of Nazism in 1933, and fled first to Vienna, and eventually to the U.S. In excellent condition.
