Indelible Grace Hymnbook

Born: 1496, in a vil­lage near Co­la (per­haps Kah­la, or else Cöl­le­da, near Sachs­en­burg), Thu­rin­gia.

Died: Ap­ril 24, 1570, Tor­gau.

By 1524, Wal­ther was in Tor­gau, play­ing the bass at the court of Fried­rich the Wise, Elec­tor of Sax­o­ny. Elec­tor Jo­hann of Sax­o­ny made him Seng­er­meis­ter (choir­mas­ter) in 1526. When the Elec­tor­al Ka­pel­le (or­ches­tra) at Tor­gau was dis­band­ed in 1530, it was re­con­sti­tut­ed by the town, and in 1534 Wal­ther was al­so ap­point­ed can­tor to the school at Tor­gau. On the ac­cess­ion of Elec­tor Mo­ritz of Sax­o­ny in 1548, Wal­ther went with him to Dres­den as his Ka­pell­meis­ter. He was pen­sioned by de­cree of Au­gust 7, 1554, and soon af­ter re­turned to Tor­gau, re­tain­ing the title of Seng­er­meis­ter.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal