Walter Taussig

Walter Taussig's life was forever altered on March 11, 1938, when Adolf Hitler invaded Austria. Born in Vienna on February 9, 1908, Taussig had been building a promising musical career in his homeland when the political upheaval of Nazi Germany reached Austrian shores, forcing him into a decades-long exile that would reshape both his personal life and professional trajectory.

Taussig received his musical education at the prestigious Vienna Music Academy, where he graduated in 1928. He studied composition with Franz Schmidt and conducting with Robert Heger, establishing himself in the rich musical tradition that made Vienna one of Europe's cultural capitals. His principal instrument was the oboe, and by the late 1930s, he was working throughout Europe as a conductor and musician.

The young conductor was part of a musical family deeply embedded in Viennese intellectual life. His father worked as an editor for Die Neue Freie Presse, a prominent Austrian newspaper, and had written editorials warning of the dangers of Nazism. His sister, Herta Taussig (later Freitag), was pursuing advanced studies in mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna, having received her Magister Rerum Naturalium in 1934. She taught at the university as a "Gymnasium Professur" from 1934 until the events of March 1938 brought their world crashing down.

Anschluss and Its Immediate Impact

The German annexation of Austria fundamentally changed the Taussig family's circumstances overnight. Herr Taussig lost his position at the newspaper due to his anti-Nazi stance, and the family faced the increasingly harsh reality of racial laws and persecution. Like thousands of other Austrian Jews, they found themselves stripped of their rights and facing an uncertain future in their own homeland.

The family initially retreated to a summer cottage in the mountains outside Vienna, using this time to assess their situation and make plans for the future. This period of uncertainty and planning would prove crucial, as they navigated the complex and dangerous process of seeking refuge abroad while the political situation continued to deteriorate.

Walter Taussig was already touring in the United States when the Anschluss occurred, which placed him in a fortunate position compared to many of his contemporaries who found themselves trapped within Nazi-controlled territory. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, he made the decision to remain in America rather than return to Austria, a choice that likely saved his life but meant abandoning everything he had known.

Meanwhile, his mother and sister began the difficult process of securing passage out of Austria. The family had to wait for their quota numbers to be called up under U.S. immigration laws, a process that could take years. During this time, they witnessed the systematic persecution of Austria's Jewish population and experienced first-hand the mounting restrictions and violence that characterized Nazi rule.

The Cuban Interlude

Before settling permanently in the United States, Walter Taussig spent a significant period in Cuba, where he conducted the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra. This Cuban sojourn was not merely a stopover but represented an important chapter in his exile experience. Cuba in the late 1930s served as a temporary refuge for many European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, though it was often seen as a stepping stone to eventual settlement in the United States.

The timing of Taussig's presence in Cuba coincided with one of the most dramatic episodes of the refugee crisis - the arrival of ships carrying Jewish refugees in 1939. While Taussig's own journey to Cuba appears to have been separate from these highly publicised voyages, his experience conducting the Havana Philharmonic during this period placed him at the centre of a community of displaced Europeans seeking new homes.

His work with the Cuban orchestra demonstrated his ability to adapt professionally to new circumstances, a skill that would serve him well throughout his exile. The experience also provided him with conducting opportunities that helped maintain his career momentum during a period when many of his contemporaries found their professional lives completely disrupted.

While Walter established himself in the Americas, his mother and sister faced their own harrowing journey to safety. Herta's experience was particularly dramatic - she applied to work as a domestic servant in England, as Britain was accepting immigrants for such positions but not for professional roles like teaching. She left Austria with the promise of a job as a maid for two elderly women in Sussex, a remarkable transformation for someone who had been teaching at the University of Vienna.

Herta's six years in England, from 1938 to 1944, involved working as a maid, governess, and waitress while waiting for the opportunity to join her brother in the United States. Her parents initially remained in Austria but eventually moved to England to be near their daughter. Tragically, Herta's father died in England in 1943, never making it to America.

The family's separation during these crucial years illustrates the fragmented nature of refugee experiences during World War II. While Walter was building a new life in the Americas, his closest family members endured years of uncertainty, dangerous border crossings, and degrading work conditions as they waited for the chance to reunite.

Professional Reconstruction in North America

After his time in Cuba, Walter Taussig moved to North America, where he worked with several major opera companies. His positions included roles at the Chicago Opera, Montreal Opera, and San Francisco Opera, demonstrating his ability to establish himself within the North American musical establishment. Each of these positions represented not just employment but steps in rebuilding a career that had been interrupted by war and persecution.

In 1944, Herta and their mother finally sailed from England to the United States, reuniting the surviving members of the Taussig family. This reunion marked the end of six years of separation and uncertainty, though it also highlighted the permanent losses they had suffered - not only Herr Taussig's death but the complete destruction of their former life in Vienna.

The question of return to Austria was one that faced all Austrian exiles after the war ended in 1945. For the Taussig family, as for many others, the decision was influenced by multiple factors that made going back impossible or undesirable.

Austria itself had been fundamentally changed by the war. The country that emerged from Allied occupation in 1955 bore little resemblance to the cosmopolitan, culturally rich Austria they had left in 1938. Much of Vienna's Jewish intellectual and cultural community had been murdered or had settled permanently elsewhere. The institutions, social networks, and cultural milieu that had sustained people like the Taussigs had been destroyed.

More personally, the family had established new roots and relationships in America. Herta had found academic success, obtaining a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1953 and building a distinguished career as a mathematics educator. Walter was developing his own professional identity within American musical institutions. The practical challenges of starting over again in a war-damaged Austria seemed overwhelming compared to the stability they had achieved in their adopted homeland.

There was also the psychological dimension of return. The trauma of displacement, the years of uncertainty, and the knowledge of what had happened to those who had remained created complex feelings about Austria. For many exiles, the country that had expelled them could never again feel like home, regardless of official policies of reconciliation.

Establishing American Roots

In 1949, Walter Taussig joined the Metropolitan Opera as assistant chorus master, beginning an association that would define the remainder of his career. This appointment represented more than just professional advancement - it marked his full integration into American musical life and his acceptance within one of the country's most prestigious cultural institutions.

At the Met, Taussig established himself as a coach, particularly specializing in German repertoire. This expertise, rooted in his Viennese musical education, became one of his most valuable professional assets. He worked with several generations of Met singers, from Birgit Nilsson, who called him "the father" of her Elektra, to Plácido Domingo, who coached the role of Parsifal with him, and later with Deborah Voigt.

His work extended beyond the Met to include coaching for Deutsche Grammophon recordings and, beginning in 1964, an eighteen-year association with the Salzburg Festival as an assistant conductor and coach. The irony of this latter appointment was not lost - an Austrian exile returning to work at one of Austria's most prestigious musical events, though now as an American citizen and Met employee rather than as a native son.

The Broader Context of Musical Exile

Walter Taussig's experience was part of a larger displacement of musical talent that profoundly affected both European and American musical life. The exodus of musicians, composers, and other artists from Nazi-controlled territories represented one of the largest cultural brain drains in history. For Austria specifically, the loss was devastating - the country that had produced Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and countless other musical figures saw much of its contemporary musical establishment scattered across the globe.

The American musical establishment benefited enormously from this influx of talent, though the integration was not always smooth. Many European musicians found their credentials questioned, their musical traditions misunderstood, or their employment opportunities limited by cultural prejudices. Taussig's success at the Met represented the positive end of this spectrum - successful adaptation and mutual enrichment.

For the exiles themselves, the experience was invariably complex. While many achieved professional success and personal safety in their new countries, the cultural and emotional costs were enormous. They had lost not just homes and possessions but entire ways of life, social networks, and cultural contexts that could never be fully replicated elsewhere.

Walter Taussig died in New York on July 31, 2003, at the age of 95, having spent 65 years in exile from his Austrian homeland. By the time of his death, he held the position of associate conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, demonstrating his complete professional integration into American musical life.

His long career at the Met, his work with world-renowned singers, and his contributions to prestigious recording projects represented a remarkable professional achievement. Yet these successes were built upon the foundation of loss - the loss of his original homeland, the disruption of his early career, and the fundamental reorientation of his life's trajectory due to political events beyond his control.

The conductor's story illustrates how individual lives were reshaped by the broader historical forces of the twentieth century. His experience of exile, adaptation, and eventual success provides insight into both the personal costs of political persecution and the remarkable human capacity for rebuilding and renewal. While Walter Taussig never returned to live in Austria, his musical expertise, rooted in Viennese tradition, continued to enrich American musical life for more than five decades, creating a bridge between the old world he had lost and the new world he had helped to build.

Sources

"Walter Taussig Dies at 95; Coached Opera Singers." The New York Times, August 2, 2003. Accessed 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/02/arts/walter-taussig-dies-at-95-coached-opera-singers.html

Johnson, Mary Ann. "Herta Taussig Freitag." Biographies of Women Mathematicians. Agnes Scott College. Accessed 2025. https://mathwomen.agnesscott.org/women/freitag.htm

Jackson, Timothy D. "Paul Kletzki and Reinhard Oppel: Two Forgotten Composers." IFSM Newsletter No. 6. Jewish Music Institute. Accessed 2025. https://www.jmi.org.uk/old-archive/suppressedmusic/newsletter/ifsm_news6.html

Siff, Ira. "The Associate." Opera News, April 2001.

"Obituaries." Opera News, October 2003.