(b Erfurt, 18 Sept 1684; d Weimar, 23 March 1748). German composerand lexicographer. He first worked as organist at St Thomas's, Erfurt. In 1703-7 he made a study tour, meeting musicians including the theorist Andreas Werckmeister; he then became organist of St Peter and St Paul, Weimar, and music teacher of Prince Johann Ernst. His cousin J.S. Bach, who worked at the court, 1708-17, became a close friend. Walther joined the court orchestra in 1721 but never reached a higher position. In 1732 he published his Musicalisches Lexicon, the first major music dictionary in German; it includes both musical terms and biographies of musicians, drawing on Walther's own theoretical treatise (1708) and many other works. As a composer he wrote some 90 sacred vocal works (now mostly lost), over 100 chorale preludes for organ and other instrumental and keyboard music. His chorale preludes are especially fine: they display most of the chorale variation techniques developed by German composers from Pachelbel to Bach but are nevertheless highly personal in style.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.