Gustav Walter

Gustav Walter (11 February 1834, Bílina, Bohemia - 31 January 1910, Vienna) 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. Notably, too, he is one of the very earliest singers to have left a legacy of gramophone recordings.

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.

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