__NOTOC__ ) , baptised = ( cs, }), Royal Bohemia,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, death_date = , death_place =

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was a ...

, Margravial Baden , occupations =

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 ...

, composer, , flourished = , era = Baroque , known_for = bringing many French elements through Jean-Baptiste Lully (his instructor) into music , list_of_works = , spouse = , partner = , children = , parents = , notable_family = Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (some authorities use the spelling Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer) (1656 August 27, 1746) was a German Baroque composer.

Johann Nikolaus Forkel Johann Nikolaus Forkel (22 February 1749 – 20 March 1818) was a German musicologist and music theorist, generally regarded as among the founders of modern musicology. His publications include '' Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work ...

ranked Fischer as one of the best composers for keyboard of his day; however, partly due to the rarity of surviving copies of his music, his music is rarely heard today.

Life

Fischer seems to have been of Bohemian origin, possibly born at Schönfeld, but details about his life are sketchy. Fischer was baptized and spent his youth in Schlackenwerth, north-west Bohemia. The first record of his existence is found in the mid-1690s: by 1695 he was Kapellmeister to

Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden (german: links=no, Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden-Baden; 8 April 1655 – 4 January 1707) was the ruling Margrave of Baden-Baden in Germany and chief commander of the Imperial Army (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial arm ...

, and he may have remained with the court until his death in

Works

Much of Fischer's music shows the influence of the French

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style, exemplified by

Jean Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, ...

, and he was responsible for bringing the French influence to German music. Fischer's harpsichord suites updated the standard Froberger model (

Allemande An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach ...

Courante The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired ...

Sarabande The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance cal ...

Gigue The gigue (; ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July 20 ...

); he was also one of the first composers to apply the principles of the orchestral suite to the harpsichord, replacing the standard French ouverture with an

unmeasured prelude Unmeasured or non-measured prelude is a prelude in which the duration of each note is left to the performer. Typically the term is used for 17th century harpsichord compositions that are written without rhythm or metre indications, although vario ...

. Both

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

and Handel knew Fischer's work and sometimes borrowed from it. Many compositions by Fischer were published during his lifetime. These published pieces include: * ''Le journal du printemps'' (1695), a collection of eight orchestral suites (''ouvertures'') for strings (the first and last with two trumpets ad libitum, that is, optional.) Each suite begins with an introductory

ouverture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtu ...

and ends with a

chaconne A chaconne (; ; es, chacona, links=no; it, ciaccona, links=no, ; earlier English: ''chacony'') is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short rep ...

or a

passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin The t ...

. ''Le Journal du printemps'', Georg Muffat's ''Florilegium'' and

Benedikt Anton Aufschnaiter Benedikt Anton Aufschnaiter (baptised 21 February 1665, Kitzbühel – buried 24 January 1742, Passau) was an Austrian Baroque composer. Aufschnaiter received much of his musical education in Vienna, where he lived for several years. Later he got ...

's ''Concors Discordia'' (all published the same year) were the first collections of orchestral suites published in Germany. * ''Pièces de Clavessin'' (1696), several harpsichord suites. The suites explore different styles and genres: for instance, the 5th one consists of an aria and nine variations, and the 8th only includes a prelude and a chaconne. This collection was later expanded by Fischer and the new version was published in 1698 under the title ''Musicalisches Blumen-Büchlein''. * ''Vesperae seu Psalmi vespertini'' (1701), a collection of sacred music. * ''

Ariadne musica ''Ariadne musica'' is a collection of Organ (music), organ music by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, first published in 1702. The main part of the collection is a cycle of 20 Prelude (music), preludes and fugues in different Key (music), keys, so ' ...

'' (also known as ''Ariadne musica Neo-organoedum'', 1702). This is a collection of

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

pieces (most written for manuals only or have optional

pedal A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to: Computers and other equipment * Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse * In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control p ...

) in two parts: ** The first part contains twenty preludes and

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

s in nineteen different

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

s and one in the Phrygian mode based on E. It is considered a significant precursor to

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

's ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of i ...

''. Bach held Fischer's work in high regard. ** The second part contains five

ricercar A ricercar ( , ) or ricercare ( , ) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ''ricercar'' derives from the Italian verb which means 'to search out; to seek'; many ricercars serve a preludial funct ...

s based on

chorale Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the th ...

melodies. * ''Lytaniae Lauretanae VII'' (1711), a collection of sacred music. * ''Blumen-Strauss'' (before 1736), a collection of organ pieces. * ''Musikalischer Parnassus'' (''Musical

Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...

'', c. 1738), nine dance suites for harpsichord, each named after one of the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

s. The suites represent a fusion of German and French styles, updating the old Froberger model by inserting many additional movements, making use of the latest dance forms of the time and using new ideas such as double

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accomp ...

s and double

rigaudon The rigaudon (also spelled rigadon, rigadoon) is a French baroque dance with a lively duple metre. The music is similar to that of a bourrée, but the rigaudon is rhythmically simpler with regular phrases (eight measure phrases are most common) ...

s. As a result, some of the suites include as many as nine parts and are quite long. The longest movement of all in the ''Musikalischer Parnassus'' and the longest movement by Fischer still extant is the

Passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin The t ...

from the ''Uranie'' suite, which some experts believe may recount the tragedy of

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...

and

Eurydice Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several meanings for the name ...

. This movement is probably Fischer's best-known piece, and has been recorded by William Christie,

Trevor Pinnock Trevor David Pinnock (born 16 December 1946 in Canterbury, England) is a British harpsichordist and conductor. He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert, which he helped found and direct ...

, and by other harpsichordists. Evidence exists of numerous lost works, among them an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

style, miscellaneous

chamber works Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, court music and keyboard pieces.

References

Sources

* by

, translated by

Charles Sanford Terry Charles Sanford Terry may refer to: * Charles Sanford Terry (historian) (1864-1936), English historian and authority on Johann Sebastian Bach * Charles Sanford Terry (translator) (1926–1982), American translator of Japanese literature

. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe. 1920 (e-version: 2011). * Walter, Rudolf. ''Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, Hofkapellmeister der Markgrafen von Baden (Quellen und Studien zur Musikgeschichte von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart)'', Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (1990)

External links

; About the composer and his music
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer im Verlag Dohr
Extensive biography and miscellaneous details about keyboard compositions
Review of "L'Œuvre pour orgue (Intégrale)" at abeillemusique.com
Includes a large essay about Fischer's life and organ works ; Scores *
Free scores
at the Mutopia Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Johann Caspar Ferdinand 1656 births 1746 deaths 18th-century German composers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century Bohemian musicians 18th-century German male musicians Composers for pipe organ German Baroque composers German classical composers German male classical composers German classical organists German male organists German Bohemian people Czech classical organists Organists and composers in the South German tradition People from the Kingdom of Bohemia People from Krásno (Sokolov District) Male classical organists