Walter Berry (bass-baritone)


Walter Berry was an Austrian lyric bass-baritone who enjoyed a prominent career in opera. He has been cited as one of several exemplary operatic bass-baritones of his era.

Professional career

Walter Berry was born in Vienna. He studied voice at the Vienna Music Academy and made his stage debut with the Vienna State Opera in 1947. He became a permanent member of the company in 1950, remaining with that ensemble for his entire career, although he undertook frequent guest appearances elsewhere in Europe and in the UK.
In 1952 Berry made his first appearance at the Salzburg Festival, where he subsequently performed on a regular basis. While in Salzburg, he collaborated with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a production of Wolfganag Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni with Leontyne Price and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. While appearing in Vienna and Salzburg he interpreted an extensive operatic repertoire which included over one hundred roles. He received high praise for his interpretations of Franz Schubert's lieder as well as songs by Gustav Mahler. Included among his acclaimed renditions of sacred works were: Johann Sebastian Bach's "Passions" and Ludwig van Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.
He made many memorable appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City during the 1960s and 1970s in such roles as Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Telramund in Lohengrin, Wotan in Die Walküre, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, the Music Master in Ariadne auf Naxos and Leporello in Don Giovanni. He sang his last Barak on 18 November 1984.
Berry's other signature roles included: Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Figaro in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and Bluebeard in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle. He was also a noted interpreter of lieder and was accompanied often at recitals by the German pianist Sebastian Peschko. Berry also appeared in choral works. Performing in light-hearted operettas, particularly Die Fledermaus, was one of his pleasures. Astonishingly, Berry never appeared in London in the role with which he perhaps became most closely linked, Papageno, despite an operatic career that spanned more than 40 years.
Walter Berry married the leading mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig in 1957 and collaborated with her both on stage and in several recordings. The couple was divorced in 1971.

Death

Walter Berry died in 2000 at the age of 71 in Vienna following a heart attack. He was entombed in the Heiligenstädter Friedhof cemetery in Vienna.

Recordings

Berry was a prolific recording artist and participated in many highly acclaimed opera recordings, including the classic Otto Klemperer recordings of The Magic Flute and Fidelio, both for EMI Records. He also recorded Johann Sebastian Bach's sacred oratorio St. Matthew Passion for Columbia Records with Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1961 and years later for Deutsche Grammophon with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in 1972.
Also included among his recorded performances are: Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, Joseph Haydn's The Creation, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne.
Critics at Billboard magazine noted that his collaboration with his wife Christa Ludwig in a recording of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle was delivered with dramatic force and strength. In 1967, Billboard's critics also praised his recording with Ludwig of scenes from Richard Strauss's Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Der Rosenkavalier issued in the United States on the RCA Victrola label, as outstanding and worthy of Strauss' best traditions. Berry's definitive recordings have earned him the distinction of being cited as one of the truly exemplary bass baritones and basses in opera.
Berry can be seen on DVD as Don Pizarro, opposite Ludwig, James King, and Josef Greindl; and as Papageno with Pilar Lorengar as Pamina; also as Leporello opposite Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Josef Greindl, in a German translation performance of Don Giovanni.

Discography

A partial listing of Walter Berry's recordings includes:
Die Zauberflöte : Otto Klemperer conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra with Gundula Janowitz and Nicolai Gedda