Professor of Music at Rutgers, The State University
Director of the Rutgers University Glee Club for 52 years,
Director of the Rutgers University Choir

Rutgers University Choir Rehearsal 1965

photos by Bob Brown, on assignment to the Scarlet Letter

Four Pictures of the RU Choir

Picture 1
Eugene Ormandy conducting a rehearsal ca. 1964. The Philadelphia Orchestra with the Rutgers University Choir.

Picture 2
Eugene Ormandy at a performance ca. 1963. The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Rutgers University Choir and two soloists. Possibly Brahms' Requiem.

Picture 3
Leopold Stokowski conducting the American Symphony Orchestra and the Rutgers University Choir at Carnegie Hall ca. 1964. It's probably Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky. The tenor and bass sections are unusually large, probably augmented by the Glee Club.

Picture 4
The Rutgers University Choir performing ca. 1965. The piano in the foreground leads me to guess that it's Beethoven's Choral Fantasy.

Information about the photos from John Vila

Directing the RU Glee Club at Echternach

colour photo by Bob Brown

Emory University Campus, Atlanta, 1966
photos by Bob Brown

More Photos

Soup and Dr. McKinney - 1947

Soup and Eric Leinsdorf - c. 1957

Directing the RUGC in flight - 1966

Another of Soup directing

Soup's Debut at Rutgers - 1932

In the Fall 1983 Glee Gab, Soup wrote:

I came to Rutgers as a freshman in 1928. After four years as an undergraduate in the Glee Club, during my senior year, I had my first opportunity to conduct. In that year (1932) we entered a Glee Club contest sponsored by the Intercollegiate Musical Council in Carnegie Hall, N.Y. For this contest a student leader was needed. I won the competition for the job and consequently my first appearance in public as a conductor was in Carnegie Hall on February 27, 1932. Professor McKinney asked me to continue leading the Club during the remainder of my senior year. At commencement time he invited me to continue conducting the Club. I gratefully (and gleefully) accepted the invitation and returned to the campus. Like the Man who Came to Dinner, I " stayed and stayed".

--- found by John Vila

Soupisms and Soup Stories

I still use three Soupisms in my rehearsals:
l) altos look up, you're behind.
2) men and, uh, tenors
3) breathe where the commas are, not the Russian commisar. Ginny Moravek

He expressed frustration pointedly: "I know the tenors are trying. Very trying."

In music history class we would try our best with the music identification test he called "Drop the Needle." He told us the Tchaikovsky stories---"How many symphonies did he write? Three. The 4th, 5th and 6th." We would always remember the famous symphonic theme from the line, "Everybody knows this but Stransky."

Soup liked to recall how many wrong ways he had been introduced or addressed in letters: Dr. Campbell, A. Foster Waters, Mr. Walters, Walter Austin. John Vila

Remember when Soup used to conduct RU Choir at full throttle with his toes hanging precariousy over the front of the stage? Gad. Carol Fitz

Soup was the only person I ever met who could fall asleep while playing the piano. I saw him do this several times in a conducting class he tought. My oh my, it must have been boring for him. He'd play some music for us on the piano and it would get slower and slower and finally stop. Art Robb

Speaking of all the names he had been called - when I looked in local paper, the Home News Tribune, for the obituary, I did a double take. There in bold letters - F. Austin Walker. (There was another article a few days later with a picture. They got it right by then.) Don Lewis

I, like many others sang with soup and had such a connection with his artistry and humanity; he really sets the standard for me in acappella singing, and repertoire, and just his general approach to life. I sang from 72-76, but then for 10+ years afterwards ina small alumnae ensemble with soup at his house. Richard Roy

Ken Deveney remembers a Soupism from the late 50's - Sopranos, when you have triplets, hold back.

Charles Bihler '59 remembers - Altos, when you are having triplets, hold back!

Soup was clever and skilled musical director and an excellent teacher. I am honoured to have known him.

Obituary

F. Austin "Soup" Walter, age 89, of the Somerset section of Franklin Township, died Monday, May 1 at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Born in Philadelphia, son of a minister of the Reformed Church, he lived in Hackensack and Highland Park before moving to Somerset.

Professor Walter graduated from Rutgers College in 1932 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science. He received an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1949 from Rutgers and in 1966 was awarded an honorary Doctorate.

Soup Walter was a distinguished Professor Emeritus of Rutgers University. After graduating in 1932, he assumed responsibility for conducting the Rutgers Glee Club. During the next 51 years, he established the group as a preeminent male singing ensemble which developed an international reputation for excellence. Under his direction, the Glee Club made twelve concert tours abroad.

In 1949, with the encouragement of (then) provost, Mason W. Gross, Soup founded the Rutgers University Choir. This choir became internationally known for its many outstanding performances with some of the world`s greatest orchestras and conductors, such as Erich Leinsdorf, Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski.

The RU choir was nominated for a Grammy award for its recording of William Walton`s "Belshazzar`s Feast" with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Among other distinguished recordings it made are "Carmina Burana" of Carl Orff, also with Ormandy, which won a Grand Prix du Disc award, and a recording of Handel's "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" with Leonard Bernstein. Both of these recordings have been reissued and are available in CD format.

Soup taught Music History, Opera, Chamber Music, Music Appreciation (which he called "Music Depreciation") and an Art, Music and Literature class. He was a visiting professor of music at the University of Michigan and also a visiting professor at Rollins College in Florida. He was the former president of the Intercollegiate Music Council and was a member of the board of directors of Friendship Ambassadors Foundation.

He retired from teaching in 1978 but continued as director of the Glee Club until 1983, the longest professional association at the University. Soup's generosity to his students, expertise in his craft, devotion to his art and his flair for living made him one of the best known and most beloved members of the Rutgers community.

Soup was predeceased by two brothers, Robert and Judd Walter, and a sister, Miriam. He is survived by a sister-in-law, Leslie Walter of Highland Park, three nephews and several great-nieces and nephews.

---By Don Lewis

Soup's Memorial Service

The memorial service for Soup was held on Sunday, May 21, at Kirkpatrick Chapel. Under gray skies and rain, Kirkpatrick Chapel was filled with family, friends and alumni and student singers from classes spanning over sixty years of choral experience with the Glee Club, the Kirkpatrick Chapel Choir and the RU Choir. Alumni gathered two hours before the service was to start, renewing ties - sometimes after decades, reminiscing about priceless moments in rehearsals and concerts with Soup, and marveling at the gifts he bestowed on each of us as a conductor, a teacher, and a friend.

Professor David Drinkwater coordinated the memorial service's speakers and musical selections. He conducted alumni of the RU Choir and Kirkpatrick Chapel Choir in a performance of "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" from the Brahms Requiem.

All the congregation joined in Soup's favorite hymns: Handel's "Awake My Soul, Stretch Every Nerve," "A Rutgers Prayer," Sibelius's "Be Still My Soul," and "Hymn to Queens." The Glee Glub Director, Dr. Patrick Gardner, led us in Tchesnokov"s "Salvation Belongeth To Our God." For a hearty recessional, we sang Grieg's "Brothers, Sing On," adapted by Soup's mentor, Howard D. McKinney.

From the Handel hymn that Soup loved, there is this fitting verse:

"Blest Saviour, introduced by Thee,
Have I my race begun;
And, crowned with victory, at Thy feet
I'll lay my honors down."

Then these words, so very final, from the hymn set to Sibelius's "Finlandia":

"Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored,
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last."

Thank you, Soup, for loving life, and music, and us.

---By John Vila