Karl Schmitt-Walter

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Karl Schmitt-Walter (born December 23, 1900 in Germersheim in the Rheinpfalz, † January 14, 1985 in Kreuth ) was a German opera and lieder singer ( baritone ).

Life

He spent his youth in Würzburg and Nuremberg . He began studying music at the Nuremberg Conservatory . He had studied with Gustav Landauer and Hans Reinmar in Nuremberg and E. Schmidt-Carlén in Dortmund and Wiesbaden. Continuing his studies in Munich led him to a master of the song, Richard Trunk . Through him he got his first relationship with song singing, which has decisively shaped his entire artistic career. His path as a stage singer took him to Wiesbaden via Oberhausen , Saarbrücken and Dortmund . After fourteen provincial years, Schmitt-Walter was invited for the first time to perform at the State Opera in Munich . He sang Wolfram, then he appeared here under Richard Strauss as Kunrad in Feuersnot . The Munich State Opera then wanted to sign him firmly, but Berlin had already got there.

In 1935 he was engaged by Wilhelm Rode at the German Opera House in Berlin. He made his debut in Berlin as "Figaro" and immediately made his first records, recommended by Erna Sack to Telefunken, including recordings of songs with the pianist Michael Raucheisen . He gave his concerts with Ferdinand Leitner , who also accompanied him during the recording of Schubert's "Winterreise".

After all, this relationship with Munich could be maintained through guest performance contracts during his engagement at the German Opera House in Berlin . In 1941 he appeared as a singer in the Zarah Leander film The Path to the Outdoors . Leander played an opera singer in the film.

The emerging international career was interrupted by the war; Schmitt-Walter sang Wehrmacht and frontline concerts.

The Vienna State Opera saw Schmitt-Walter as a guest for a long time, and he also sang in Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, France, England, Scotland, Ireland and Portugal. At the Salzburg Festival he was in 1949 under Furtwängler of Papageno , with Edwin Fischer and Michael Raucheisen he sang u. a. in Berlin The winter trip . In 1955 he helped to open the rebuilt Berlin State Opera as Don Giovanni, who was celebrated throughout the German-speaking region.

At that time, Karl Schmitt-Walter was one of the internationally known and popular singers in operas, concerts and radio. Numerous recordings with well over 500 recorded titles attest to his artistic work.

In 1956 Schmitt-Walter himself described the high point of his career as a collaboration with Wieland Wagner at the Bayreuth Festival , the Beckmesser in the Meistersingers , which he performed in Bayreuth in uninterrupted succession until 1961 under Hans Knappertsbusch, among others, and then also in Munich, Vienna , Berlin, Lisbon and other houses. He also took over the supervision of foreign singers in Bayreuth.

Around the same time, Schmitt-Walter turned to the training of young singers and the further training of already established singers. In 1957 he was appointed professor at the State University of Music in Munich. He was a director of studies at the Bayreuth Festival and at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen. He continued this teaching activity after completing his active singing career at the Munich State Opera in 1964.

Karl Schmitt-Walter was a Bavarian and Prussian chamber singer , professor at the State University of Music in Munich, holder of the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Bavarian Order of Merit . The King of Denmark awarded him the Dannebrogden . The Bavarian State Opera in Munich honored his work by including a painting in its portrait gallery of important members of the house, which shows him in the role of Don Giovanni.

Karl Schmitt-Walter was buried in the Westfriedhof in Munich .

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personal data
SURNAME Schmitt-Walter, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera and lieder singer (baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Germersheim in the Rhine Palatinate
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1985
Place of death Kreuth