DESCRIPTION:
with Erna Fournes (violin) and Hilde Poddick (cembalo).
Clausophon master C 771 Z, rec. Berlin, 1931 ca.
Although a son of German parents, Georg Adolf Walter was born in Hoboken (New York) on November 13 1876. Obviously he travelled a lot as a young man, for he began his vocal training with Vidal in Milano, then went to Scheidemantel in Dresden, and via Berlin finally completed his vocal education with Raimund von zur Mühlen in London. He madi his debut in 1900, and soon gained a reputation as one of the best performers of Baroque music in Europe. He was a respected editor of Baroque cantata manuscripts, and many of Bach's cantatas probably would not have been resurrected if not for his tireless advocacy of them. Apart from his solo work he was a member of the legendary Goethe Quartet (other members were Elfriede Goethe (soprano), Emmi Leisner (contralto), and Arthur van Eweyk, later Julius von Raatz-Brockmann (bass) - sadly they did not record) and was much in demand as a teacher, his most famous pupil being Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Walter died in Berlin in 1952. He did not record much, and most of these records were made comparatively late for a tenor, but these are an important legacy. Of course, he should be represented here by a Bach aria, in this case from Cantata No. 85.