Walter Wismar: A Kantor for the Whole Church

In this series, Benjamin Kolodziej will reflect on several figures in American Lutheran sacred music history. This series is based on his new book Portraits in American Lutheran Sacred Music, 1847–1947 (Concordia Publishing House), which will be released in August and is available for pre-order now.

In exploring the sacred music in the Missouri Synod, figures such as C.F.W. Walther, in his preserving of a Lutheran culture of sacred music in the New World, or Karl Brauer and Martin Lochner, who from their positions at the major teachers seminary shaped the musical values of generations of students, loom large in historical studies, and rightfully so. But progress in and appreciation for the Lutheran heritage of sacred music could also emerge from the humble teacher/musician in the neighborhood parish. Such is the case with Walter Wismar, whose decades of steady influence through writing, conducting and organizational leadership modeled the fullest vocation of a Lutheran Kantor.

Born in 1881 in New Wells, Mo., Wismar’s childhood was imbued with Lutheran culture and sacred music. His father was a teacher and musician at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells.[1] A few years, the family moved to Illinois: Much of Wismar’s childhood was spent in Elgin, Ill., and Chicago, where his father served at First Bethlehem Lutheran Church.[2] Walter Wismar attributed his interest in music to a school graduation ceremony, where he accompanied a violinist on piano, inspiring him to consider musical studies more seriously.[3] At the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, he studied piano and violin,[4] and in 1897 he entered the Addison seminary, where he enthusiastically participated in the orchestra. Wismar later recalled, “We had a good large orchestra at Addison, and when I came for the first rehearsal, the Konzertmeister commanded, “Fuchs, setz’ dich hierher,” (“Fox, sit down here”) so I sat next to him for the year.”[5] To be accorded such an honor speaks to Wismar’s musicality and technical proficiency, a result of his father’s musical household and his formal studies at the American Conservatory.[6]

Upon graduation from Addison in 1901, Wismar served Nazareth Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, concurrently studying at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, before accepting a call to Holy Cross in St. Louis in December of 1902.

A Kantor in St Louis

The position at Holy Cross was no mean appointment. The congregation was one of the original churches organized under the spiritual supervision of C.F.W. Walther himself, and located in close proximity to Concordia Seminary. Still a passionate violinist, Wismar’s interest in the organ was negligible, but the rich culture of sacred music in the St. Louis area would draw him into organ playing. He recalled:

The organ didn’t appeal to me until I came to St. Louis and heard Charles Galloway play at his Episcopal church and at the chapel of St. Louis University. He greatly admired Johann Sebastian Bach, and I could appreciate the Great Cantor.[7]

Wismar immersed himself in conducting, establishing a string orchestra from the young men’s club at Holy Cross,[8] and the “Euphonia Musical Club,” an organization comprised of “teachers of Lutheran parish schools and also music lovers in the associated parishes,”[9] in addition to his regular parish choirs.

Under Wismar, the Holy Cross choir’s stature rose, performing concerts regularly in addition to a full schedule of services. During World War I, when “many a choir in the city was either completely closed or converted into a women’s choir due to the lack of male voices,”[10] the Holy Cross choir fielded 50–60 members, a testimony to Wismar’s personal efforts at engagement.

Choir director at Concordia Seminary

As Concordia Seminary had been virtually across the street from Holy Cross, with many academic functions held in the nave of the church, a close relationship had been nurtured between the church, its kantor, and the seminary. Concordia appointed Wismar choral director in 1928, after the move to its Clayton site. The seminary chorus had sung sacred repertoire exclusively, its membership standing at 100 when Wismar took over in 1928. Wismar refined its vision, determining it would sing music only of Bach. The choristers agreed to this, admitting that “the successful presentation of an exclusively Bach program is something of an experiment with us. But it is something to be able to say that we now constitute the only Bach chorus in St. Louis, and so far as we are able to ascertain … the largest strictly male Bach chorus in the United States.”[11]

Portraits in American Lutheran Sacred Music 1847–1947 is available for preorder now at Concordia Publishing House.

In April of 1929, the chorus performed excerpts from Bach’s St Matthew Passion.[12]The reviewer in the Globe-Democrat affirmed that “the chorus did surprisingly well in its first public essay in the field of the great tradition of Lutheran music,” praising the chorus for attaining “to the spiritual values of the musical heritage which belongs of right to Concordia chorus. There was, as it were, the laying of a musical corner stone, a foundation for a choir of which Concordia Seminary, the Lutheran Church and the City of St. Louis may be proud.”[13]

In 1930, its roster numbering 125 singers, [14] Wismar propelled the chorus to new heights in a performance with the St. Louis Symphony, one reviewer noting that  “Concordia Seminary’s male chorus, the largest in America, will assist the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the final concerts of the Golden Jubilee season at the Odeon Friday afternoon and Saturday evening.”[15] This Wismar could do, all while simultaneously teaching school and directing the extensive music program at Holy Cross. Wismar directed the seminary chorus until 1933, remembering that “I think I taught some fellows that Bach is a good Lutheran musician and that his music is the greatest church music we have.”[16]

Purveyor of the Lutheran Chorale

Wismar had begun to lament the state of Lutheran sacred music, claiming that the Gospel “and Lutheran music should go hand in hand in our churches, joyfully proclaiming the Good News to all who hear us,”[17] but believing that the transition from German to English presented challenges which the Lutheran Church was not adequately navigating. Wismar wrote in The Lutheran Witness that “in the transition from German to English the heritage of Lutheran church music must not be lost,” and that

In the congregations that I have addressed thus far on church hymns English hymns always headed the list when I asked for three favorite hymns, and in about fifth place came a Lutheran choral, usually “Ein feste Burg.” . . . If we wish to make the music of our Church characteristically Lutheran, the majority of hymns used in the service, by both congregation and choir, must be Lutheran.[18]

During the next year, he canvassed Lutheran youth for their favorite hymns, publishing the results in 1925:[19]

What a Friend We Have in Jesus                         284

Rock of Ages                                                              158

Abide with Me                                                           140

A Mighty Fortress                                                    138

Just As I Am                                                                119

Jesus, Lover of My Soul                                         109

Savior, I Follow On                                                   106

Nearer, My God, to Thee                                        98

In the Hour of Trial                                                   82

I’m But a Stranger Here                                          68

From Greenland’s Icy Mountains                       54

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less                      53

Abide, O Dearest Jesus                                             31

Holy, Holy, Holy                                                         24

O Friend of Souls                                                       22

O Lamb of God, Most Holy                                     20

My Faith Looks Up to Thee                                    18

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty                         14

Lead, Kindly Light                                                     12

Beautiful Savior                                                         11

Wismar decried the lack of appreciation for Lutheran hymnody, but feared “that this is the case in quite a number of Lutheran churches, that nine English hymns are chosen and preferred to one German choral.”[20] This decline in Lutheran hymnody likely motivated Wismar’s advocacy for Bach’s repertoire at the seminary, hoping to instill in the students an appreciation for their musical heritage. Wismar published articles frequently in The Lutheran Witness, delving into topics such as “What Can We Do in Church to Foster and Preserve the Lutheran Choral?”[21] as well as “Music in the Sunday School”[22] and the “Processional Hymn.”[23] During the 1940s, he contributed organ and choral music reviews to LW, attempting to foster musical taste in Missouri Synod musicians.

Wismar’s Legacy

In 1956, Concordia, River Forest, bestowed on Wismar an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his decades of scholarship and performance.[24] Wismar resigned from Holy Cross in 1959, age 78, having served 56 years. He died on Nov. 13, 1969, at the age of 89.[25]

Walter Wismar never held a prestigious university or seminary appointment. His choral direction at Concordia Seminary was only a part-time endeavor. Yet through his writing, direction and leadership in the center of St. Louis, that city so associated with historical American Lutheranism, Wismar was able to reclaim much sacred music, including that of Bach, for use in the Lutheran church. He did so without benefit of the pulpit or of a prestigious podium, but simply from his loft at Holy Cross, exemplifying the impact a Kantor, following his or her vocation, may make on the wider church.

[1] “Quits Music Post after 57 Years,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 19, 1959, 5A.

[2] Louis Schwartzkopf, The Lutheran Trail: a History of the Synodical Conference Lutheran Churches in Northern Illinois (Concordia, 1950), 246.

[3] “Dr. Walter Wismar to be Honored by Holy Cross Lutheran,” Neighborhood News, September 17, 1959, 1.

[4] Ibid.

[5] David William Krause, The Philosophy and Development of Contemporary Choral Music Written for the Worship Service in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (MM thesis, University of Southern California): 24.

[6] Krause, “The Philosophy and Development. . .”: 23.

[7] Krause, “The Philosophy and Development“): 24.

[8] “Eine hübsche Abendunterhaltung,” Mississippi Blätter (St. Louis, MO), May 21, 1905, 6.

[9] “Euphonia Musical Club,” Westliche Post (St. Louis, MO), February 1, 1906, 5.

[10] “Kreuz-Gemeinde,” Mississippi Blätter, September 7, 1919: 5.

[11] “An Ambitious Program Marks the Twenty-Seventh Year of the Concordia Seminary Students’ Chorus,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 16, 1929, 6.

[12] “Facing the Music,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 10, 1929: 2B. This article claims that “The ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ will be sung for the first time in St. Louis.”

[13] “Concordia’s Chorus Sings Bach Program in Great Tradition”

[14] “Symphony Plays Brilliantly in Faust Program,” St. Louis Star and Times, March 29, 1930, 9.

[15] “Concordia Male Chorus to Sing with Symphony,” St. Louis Star and Times, March 22, 1930, 9.

[16] Letter from Walter Wismar to Rev. Carl Nitz, July 7, 1934, in the Walter P. Wismar Collection, Concordia Historical Institute.

[17] Letter from Walter Wismar to Rev. Carl F. Nitz, July 15, 1933, in the Walter P. Wismar Collection, Concordia Historical Institute.

[18] Walter Wismar, “Back to the Lutheran Choral!” The Lutheran Witness 43, no. 4 (February 12, 1924):62.

[19] Walter Wismar, “Popular Hymns,” The Lutheran Witness 44, no. 17 (August 25, 1925):280.

[20] For more detail into the state of sacred music of the time, see Paul Grime’s, “The Lutheran Hymnal after Seventy-Five Years: Its Role in the Shaping of Lutheran Service Book,” Concordia Theological Quarterly 79, no. 3-4: 195.

[21] Walter Wismar, “What Can We Do in Church to Foster and Preserve the Lutheran Choral?” The Lutheran Witness 45, no. 16 (August 10, 1926): 257.

[22] Walter Wismar, “Music in the Sunday-School,” The Lutheran Witness 46, no. 1 (January 11, 1927): 5.

[23] Walter Wismar, “Processional Hymns,” The Lutheran Witness 46, no. 5 (March 8, 1927): 82.

[24] “Walter Wismar,” The Diapason 47, no. 7 (June 1, 1956): 11.

[25] “Organist Walter P. Wismar Dies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1969, 1-4B.