The Austrian conductor and violinist Walter Weller, who has died aged 75, spent much of his career with orchestras in Britain. Despite his unflamboyant nature – he could never be accused of courting publicity – he achieved unexpected distinction on two counts. First he appeared on a Bank of Scotland £50 note celebrating “arts and culture”. Second, he featured in the acknowledgments of a Jilly Cooper novel, Appassionata, where he is described as “darkly urbane and charismatic”. Researching the world of classical music for her book, Cooper had spent a congenial week with Weller and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on tour in Spain.
Weller had begun his career as a violinist, having studied with Ernst Moravec and Franz Samohyl at the Music Academy in Vienna. He was born in the city to Anna and Walter senior, also a violinist, and at the age of 17 followed him into the Vienna Philharmonic, rising rapidly to occupy the seat of Konzertmeister, which he retained from 1961 to 1969, in conjunction with Willi Boskovsky. During the same period he was also achieving renown with his own Weller Quartet, which he had founded in 1958, continuing to play and record with them for over 10 years.
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