Walter, Johann (EN)

Walter, Walther, Johann, *1496 Kahla, †25 March 1570 Torgau, German composer and poet. Walter’s real surname, which he gave in his will, was Blankenmüller (Blankenmöller). He bore his adopted surname after a resident of Kahla, who adopted him and financed his education. From 1521 to 1525, Walter sang in the chapel of the Elector of Saxony, Prince Frederick the Wise. After his death, he unsuccessfully sought a position at the court of Duke Albert of Hohenzollern in Königsberg. In 1525, the composer stayed in Wittenberg; at the request of M. Luther, he participated in the development of the German Mass. In 1526, he settled in Torgau, where he was entrusted with directing the Latin school and the city choir. From 1548, he directed the court chapel of Duke Maurice of Saxony in Dresden, and in 1554, he returned to Torgau.

His only son, Johann Walter (1527–1578), was also a composer, active in Schnaitheim bei Heidenheim, Tübingen, Grossenhain, and in the chapel of Maurice, Elector of Saxony. Three of his four-voice compositions have survived in manuscript: Te Deum, the second hymn, and (incomplete) a motet.

Walter played a significant and pioneering role in the history of polyphonic Lutheran song. His most important work, Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn, prefaced by M. Luther, became the first realisation of the Reformation founder’s views on the pedagogical and theological role of musical art, which Walter himself calls “the sister of theology” and “the friend of Christ” in his poetry. The collection includes both German songs (38 in the first edition, 75 in the last) and Latin motets (5 and 47, respectively). The German works are usually of the tenorlied type, with a fixed melody (sometimes embellished) in longer timescales, although subsequent editions increase the number of compositions with a cantus firmus in the highest voice (from 2 to 15). In multi-movement works (Erhalt uns Herr from 1566), and exceptionally also in single-movement works (Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist), the constant melody migrates from the tenor to the soprano. In his arrangements of Lutheran chorales (some of which he composed himself), Walter introduced a variety of compositional techniques: imitations (usually paraphrasing the cantus firmus), homorhythm, free counterpoint, and even “concertante” sections (Joseph, lieber Joseph; Allein auf Gotts Wort from the 1566 collection). At times, the composer employed sophisticated polyphonic techniques (e.g., the five-voice canon Jesus Christus unser Heiland) and incorporated symbolism and sound painting elements (e.g., the falling and rising phrases on the word “Niederlanden” in Ein neues Lied, the dissonance on “böse Feind” in Ein feste Burg ad aequales, the triple time in the “lullaby” Joseph mein Joseph). The form of the piece is closely linked to the structure of Lutheran hymns and most often takes the form of a Barform (AAB). In shaping the melodic line, Walter did not shy away from melismas, while repetitions of words and sentences appear exceptionally, usually in the final sections of the composition. Walter’s Passions are among the first polyphonic arrangements of this genre with German text. Polyphony, in the form of a simple four-voice falsobordone, is introduced only in the turba passages. A similarly simple, chordal recitation characterises the works from the 1540 collected print. Walter’s most interesting works with Latin texts include his arrangements of the Magnificat. They feature canonic technique, cantus firmus vagans, and varying the number of voices (2–6) in subsequent movements. Walter’s skill and virtuosity in using Netherlandish compositional techniques are demonstrated, among others, by his two seven-voice motets, called cantio, based on the texts of the psalms Beati immaculati (5-part) and Levavi oculos (9-part). In the first, intended for the consecration of the chapel of Hartenfels Castle in Torgau in 1544, four tenors – leading the melody in canon – and a soprano arrange fragments of a psalm, the alto introducing a single, repeated note of praise in honour of Johann Friedrich I, while the bass, alternating two notes, introduces a Latin acclamation in honour of the luminaries of the Reformation present at the ceremony (“vive Luthere, vive Melancthon, vivite nostrae lumina terrae”). Walter was also the author of religious hymns and two rhyming speeches in praise of music: Lob und Preis der löblichen Kunst Musica and Lob und Preis der himmlischen Kunst Musica (both published in Wittenberg in 1538 and 1546). The counterfactuals of two of Walter’s works (Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl and Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott) were published with Polish texts (Psalm Dawidow XIII and Psalm L) in prints by H. Wietor (1545) and Ł. Andrysowic.

Literature: W. Gurlitt Johann Walter und Die Musik der Reformazionszeit, “Luther-Jahrbuch” XV, 1933; W. Ehmann Johann Walter, der erste Kantor der protestantischen Kirche, “Musik und Kirche” VI, 1934, reprint in: W. Ehmann Voce et Tuba, ed. D. Berke et al., Kassel 1976; C. Gerhardt Die Torgauer Walter-Handschriften. Eine Studie zur Quellenkunde der Musikgeschichte der deutschen Reformationszeit, Kassel 1949; G. Birkner Luthers Verhältnis zum „Geistlichen Gesangbüchlein” von Johann Walter und zum Erfurter Enchiridion (Loersfeld) von 1524, commemorative book of H. Conradin, ed. V. Kalisch et al., Berno 1983; W. Blankenburg Johann Walter. Leben und Werk, ed. F. Brusniak, Tutzing 1991; F. Brusniak Johann Walters „Cantiones septem vocum” von 1544–45, in: Studien zur Musikgeschichte, commemorative book of L. Finscher, ed. A. Laubenthal and K. Kusan-Windweh, Kassel 1995; Johann Walter-Studien, materials from a conference in Torgau 1996, ed. F. Brusniak, Tutzing 1998; P. Poźniak Repertuar polskiej muzyki wokalnej w epoce Renesansu, «Acta Musicologica Universitatis Cracoviensis» VI, Kraków 1999; M.L. Hendrickson Musica Christi: A Lutheran aesthetic, New York et al., 2005; F. Krautwurst “Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort”: Zahlensymbolisches Komponieren bei Johann Walter und Leonhard Paminger, commemorative book of K.-J. Sachs, ed. R. Kleinertz et al., Hildesheim 2010; M. Tomsińska Gdańska tabulatura lutniowa D-B Danzig 4022, “Polski Rocznik Muzykologiczny” X, 2012; Johann Walter: Torgau und die evangelische Kirchenmusik, ed. M. Herrmann, Ch. Thielemann, «Sächsische Studien zur älteren Musikgeschichte» IV, Altenburg 2013; F. Brusniak „Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort”: Zur Biographie Johann Walters und zu seiner „Bekenntnismusik” von 1566, “Musik und Kirche” LXXXVI, 6, 2016; K.M. Schabram Johann Walter und das Magnificat: Gattungsgeschichtliche und musikanschauliche Aspekte der Magnificat octo tonorum (1557), in: Maria „inter” confessiones: Das Magnificat in der frühen Neuzeit, ed. Ch. Wiesenfeldt, S. Feinen, Turnhout 2017; Ch. Märkl Eine neue Torgauer Walter-Handschrift? Studien zu bislang unbekannten Stimmbüchern der Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek mit Psalmkompositionen Johann Walters und Ludwig Senfls, commemorative book of H. Geyer, ed. E. Bock, M. Pauser, Sinzig 2018; R.A. Leaver Johann Walter Werke Verzeichnis [JWWV], “Fontes Artis Musicae” LXVI, 1, 2019; H.-O. Korth Melodische Aufwärtsverlagerungen bei frühen Kirchenliedern, “Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie” LVIII, 2019.