Ernst Fischer (10 April 1900, Magdeburg, Germany - 10 July 1975 Locarno, Switzerland; buried

Ronco sopra Ascona Ronco sopra Ascona is a municipality near Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Ronco sopra Ascona is first mentioned in 1264 as ''Roncha''. In 1498 it was mentioned as ''Ronca de Scona''. Ronco sopra Ascona and Ascona a '' ...

, Switzerland) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

orchestral suite A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

s, songs, and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

works, and is best known for his large scale light music compositions. From 1916 to 1922, Fischer was a student at the

Hoch Conservatory Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for ...

in Frankfurt and the

Stern Conservatory The Stern Conservatory (''Stern'sches Konservatorium'') was a private music school in Berlin with many distinguished tutors and alumni. The school is now part of Berlin University of the Arts. History It was founded in 1850 as the ''Berliner Musi ...

in Berlin. In 1926, he became a Berlin

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and author of cinema music. He composed a number of

piano solo The piano is often used to provide harmonic accompaniment to a voice or other instrument. However, solo parts for the piano are common in many musical styles. These can take the form of a section in which the piano is heard more prominently t ...

s in the then-popular idiom of

novelty piano Novelty piano is a genre of piano and novelty music that was popular during the 1920s. A successor to ragtime and an outgrowth of the piano roll music of the 1910s, it can be considered a pianistic cousin of jazz, which appeared around the same ti ...

. He also was an

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

for the works of others, such as Carl Robrecht. In the 1930s, Fischer became a popular radio composer, whose

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

pieces were played by many light orchestras. He became well-known to

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

listeners from the 1930s to 1960s. Although he wrote numerous piano pieces, perhaps his most famous work is the orchestral suite ''Südlich der Alpen'' (''South of the Alps''). He was also well known as the performer on the Grand Odeon

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

; he performed under the name of Marcel Palotti between 1930 and 1937.

External links

* performed by the Hungarian Gypsy Orchestra. ISWC code T-802.076.347-8 * Performed by pianist Alex Hassan.
Sunny Morning
- a CD of piano works performed by

Alex Hassan Alexander Edward Hassan (born April 1, 1988) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder who played for the Boston Red Sox in 2014. Amateur career A native of Quincy, Massachusetts, Hassan attended Boston College High School an ...

.
South of the Alps
- a CD of orchestral works performed by Rundfunkorchester Berlin.

*"Sparkling Champagne" by Claudio Abbado & Berlin Philharmonic in

Classic Arts Showcase Classic Arts Showcase (CAS) is a television channel in the United States promoting the fine arts. The television program content includes prepared media and recorded live performances. It is a 24-hour non-commercial satellite channel broadcasting ...

1900 births 1975 deaths 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians 20th-century German pianists 20th-century organists German film score composers German male composers German male organists German male pianists German operetta composers Light music composers Male film score composers Male operetta composers Ragtime composers Ragtime pianists {{Germany-composer-stub