Walter the Musician

Walter’s talent was discovered by his uncle, who gave him his first violin. Walter’s love to play the violin and his persistency in exercising eventually convinced his parents and they hired a private music teacher.  Walter made fast progress. After school his teacher encouraged him to perform the entrance examina for the ‘Musikakademie’ (music college) in St. Gallen, Switzerland, which he past without any problem. He finished as one of the best students, enflaming his desire to play in a first-class orchestra.

Walter’s aspiration pushed him to leave Switzerland, to become a First Violin player in the ‘Symphonie-Orchester’ in Hamburg, Germany, shortly after the II. World War. Not only that this orchestra has been an internationally known first-class orchestra, it gave Walter the opportunity to play with the best of the best, just to mention a few, the conductors Kurt Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan and the singer Maria Callas.

The photo shows the orchestra in the "Hamburger Musikhalle"; Walter sits at the left side, second stand from the conductor at the right side.

Walter played in this orchestra until his retirement.

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, the chief conductor of the Symphonie-Orchester in Hamburg, recognized the outstanding talent of Walter early on. The picture taken at one of the many concert tours shows Schmidt-Isserstedt conducting, and Walter sitting in the foreground. The dedication says “Heidelberg, June 1949: To my venerated 3./4. music stand, the ingenious stroke artist in commemoration by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, the chief judge for stroke specification”