Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer
Encyclopedia
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (some authorities use the spelling Johann Kasper Ferdinand Fischer) (9 September 1656 – 27 August 1746) was a German
Baroque
composer
. Johann Nikolaus Forkel
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.
n origin, possibly born at Schönfeld
, but details about his life are sketchy. The first record of his existence is found in the mid-1690s: by 1695 he was Kapellmeister
to Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden
, and he may have remained with the court until his death in Rastatt
.
style, exemplified by Jean Baptiste Lully, and he was responsible for bringing the French influence to German music. Fischer's harpsichord
suite
s updated the standard Froberger
model (Allemande
- Courante
- Sarabande
- Gigue
); 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
. Both Bach
and Handel
knew Fischer's work and sometimes borrowed from it.
Many compositions by Fischer were published during his lifetime. These published pieces include:
Evidence exists of numerous lost works, among them an opera
in Italian
style, miscellaneous chamber works
, court music and keyboard pieces.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. Johann Nikolaus Forkel
Johann Nikolaus Forkel
Johann Nikolaus Forkel , was a German musician, musicologist and music theorist.-Biography:...
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 BohemiaBohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n origin, possibly born at Schönfeld
Schönfeld
-Places in Germany:*Schönfeld, Brandenburg, in the district Uckermark, Brandenburg*Schönfeld, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the district of Demmin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern*Schönfeld, Saxony, in the district Riesa-Großenhain, Saxony...
, but details about his life are sketchy. The first record of his existence is found in the mid-1690s: by 1695 he was Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
to Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden
Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Louis William, Margrave of Baden was the ruler of Baden in Germany and chief commander of the Imperial army. He was also known as Türkenlouis...
, and he may have remained with the court until his death in Rastatt
Rastatt
Rastatt is a city and baroque residence in the District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50'000...
.
Works
Much of Fischer's music shows the influence of the French BaroqueBaroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
style, exemplified by Jean Baptiste Lully, and he was responsible for bringing the French influence to German music. Fischer's harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
s updated the standard Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical...
model (Allemande
Allemande
An allemande is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite...
- Courante
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....
- Sarabande
Sarabande
In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
- Gigue
Gigue
The gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite...
); 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 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 various composers of the Classical music era were...
. Both Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
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 and ends with a chaconneChaconneA chaconne ; is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...
or a passacagliaPassacagliaThe passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre....
. Le Journal du printemps and Georg MuffatGeorg Muffat-Life:He was born in Megève, Savoy, , and of Scottish descent. He studied in Paris with Jean Baptiste Lully between 1663 and 1669, then became an organist in Molsheim and Sélestat. Later, he studied law in Ingolstadt, afterwards settling in Vienna...
's Florilegium (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 musicaAriadne musicaAriadne musica is a collection of organ music by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, first published in 1702. The main part of the collection is a cycle of 20 preludes and fugues in different keys, so Ariadne musica is considered an important precursor to Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier,...
(also known as Ariadne musica Neo-organoedum, 1702). This is a collection of pipe organPipe organThe pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
pieces (most written for manualManual (music)A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
s only or have optional pedal) in two parts:- The first part contains twenty preludes and fugueFugueIn music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
s in nineteen different keyKey (music)In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
s and one in the Phrygian modePhrygian modeThe Phrygian mode can refer to three different musical modes: the ancient Greek tonos or harmonia sometimes called Phrygian, formed on a particular set octave species or scales; the Medieval Phrygian mode, and the modern conception of the Phrygian mode as a diatonic scale, based on the latter...
based on E. It is considered a significant precursor to Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's The Well-Tempered ClavierThe Well-Tempered ClavierThe Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach...
. Bach held Fischer's work in high regard. - The second part contains five ricercarRicercarA ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece...
s based on choraleChoraleA chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
melodies.
- The first part contains twenty preludes and fugue
- Lytaniae Lauretanae VII (1711), a collection of sacred music.
- Blumen-Strauss (before 1736), a collection of organ pieces.
- Musikalischer Parnassus (Musical Parnassus, c. 1738), nine dance suites for harpsichord, each named after one of the MuseMuseThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
s. The suites represent a fusion of German and French styles, updating the old FrobergerJohann Jakob FrobergerJohann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical...
model by inserting many additional movements, making use of the latest dance forms of the time and using new ideas such as double minuetMinuetA minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
s and double rigaudonRigaudonThe rigaudon 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 ....
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 PassacagliaPassacagliaThe passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre....
from the Uranie suite, which some experts believe may recount the tragedy of OrpheusOrpheusOrpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
and EurydiceEurydiceEurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
. This movement is probably Fischer's best-known piece, and has been recorded by Trevor PinnockTrevor PinnockTrevor David Pinnock CBE is an English conductor, harpsichordist, and occasional organist and pianist.He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert which he helped found and directed from the keyboard for over 30 years in baroque and early classical...
and other harpsichordists.
Evidence exists of numerous lost works, among them an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
style, miscellaneous chamber works
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, court music and keyboard pieces.
Media
General reference
- 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 ProjectMutopia projectThe Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books.The music is reproduced from old scores that are out of copyright...