Books › Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908 › scan 64
Scan 64
Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908
10 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1years a great attraction at the Bach-Abel and Vauxhall concerts, and as a member of the Queen's band played frequently before the Court. His playing of Handel's fourth oboe concerto at the Handel Commemoration in 1784 so delighted the King that he expressed his satisfaction in a note on his book of the words. (Memoir of Dr. Burney by Mme. D'Arblay, ii. 385.) His tone must have been very powerful, since Giardini the violinist characterised it as 'such an impudence of tone as no other instrument could contend with'; and according to the ABCDario 'it was very fine and inexpressibly well-managed.' On the death of Stanley, Master of the King's band (1786), Fischer competed with Burney and others for the vacant post, but Parsons was appointed, and Fischer soon after went abroad, probably in disgust at his failure. Mozart in 1766 as a boy had been enchanted with his playing in Holland, but on hearing him again in Vienna, severely criticises him (letter to his father, April 4, 1787), and condemns alike his tone, his execution, and his compositions. From 1790 he remained in London. While playing at Court he was struck with paralysis, and died April 29, 1800 (see Times of May 1). Kelly, in his Reminiscences (vol. i. 9), gives an anecdote of Fischer's pride as an artist. A certain nobleman having invited him to supper much against his will, said when he arrived, 'I hope, Mr. Fischer, you have brought your oboe in your pocket'; to which he replied, 'No, my lord; my oboe never sups,' and instantly left the house. He was very intimate with Gainsborough, who was a great lover of music, and whose pretty daughter Mary he married, though the father gave a very unwilling consent, foreseeing the short duration of the marriage. (Fulcher's Life of Gainsborough.) There is a fine portrait of Fischer by Gainsborough at Hampton Court (private dining-room, No. 747). Thicknesse mentions a second in full uniform—'scarlet and gold like a colonel of the Foot Guards.'
3Zuck and Kellner were his best-known pupils in London. J. C. Bach wrote for him a quartet for two oboes, viola, and violoncello, which he often played. His own compositions (of which Fétis and Gerber give a partial list) consist of solos, duets, concertos, quartets, etc. On this point the ABCDario says, 'As a composer his desire to be original often makes him introduce whimsical and outré passages, which nothing but his playing could cover.' Mozart, in spite of his unfavourable opinion of him, immortalised his minuet by writing variations for it (1773), which he often played to display his bravura (Köchel, No. 179). 'This minuet was then all the rage,' as Kelly writes, after hearing Fischer play it in Dublin (Rem. i. 9), and it continued to be the rage for many years. C. F. P.
5FISH, WILLIAM, born in Norwich in 1775, became, early in life, a violinist in the theatre there. He was next a teacher of music, then principal oboist at the theatre, etc., and eventually leader of the band at the concerts. He numbered among his pupils Edward Taylor, afterwards Gresham professor of music, and George Perry, afterwards leader of the band of the Sacred Harmonic Society. He died in Norwich, March 15, 1866. He composed numerous songs, and other vocal pieces, a piano-forte sonata, op. 1, and concertos for various instruments. W. H. H.
7FISHER, JOHN ABRAHAM, Mus.Doc., was born at Dunstable (or London) in 1744. He became a student of the violin under Pinto, and made his first appearance in public in July 1765 at the King's Theatre, in a concert for the benefit of the Musical Fund. About 1770 he married a daughter of Powell the actor, and became, in her right, proprietor of a sixteenth share in Covent Garden Theatre. He composed for that and other theatres the music for the following pantomimes, viz., 'Zobeide,' 1771; 'The Monster of the Wood,' 1772; 'The Sylphs,' 1774; 'Prometheus,' 1776; and 'The Norwood Gipsies,' 1777; and also music for the opening of 'Macbeth.' On July 2, 1777, an oratorio by Fisher, entitled 'Providence,' was performed in the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, and on the 5th of the same month the composer (as a member of Magdalen College) accumulated the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Music. His oratorio was performed in Freemasons' Hall, London, on May 28, 1778, for the benefit of the Middlesex Hospital, and again in 1780. On the death of his wife Fisher disposed of his interest in Covent Garden Theatre, and started on a professional tour through Russia and Germany. In 1784 he reached Vienna, where he induced the youthful Anna Selina Storace to become his second wife—contrary to the advice of all her friends. The union proved an unhappy one, and in a short time the parties separated and the wife never after used her husband's name. The Emperor, incensed at Storace's having had to submit to blows from her husband, ordered Fisher to quit his dominions. He then went to Dublin and gave a few successful concerts in the Rotunda. [He was in Ireland from 1786 to 1788 (see Lady Morgan's Memoirs). He left Ireland before 1798 and died, probably in London, in May 1806.—W. H. G. F.] Besides the above-named compositions Fisher published some symphonies for orchestra, and other works, for which see the Quellen-Lexikon. W. H. H.
9FITZWILLIAM, EDWARD FRANCIS, son of Edward and Frances Fitzwilliam—both actors and singers—born at Deal, August 1, 1824. He was educated for the musical profession, and devoted himself especially to the study of composition. In 1853 he published a set of twelve songs which were much admired, and in the same year was appointed director of the
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.