Edwin Fischer

For the American tennis player, see Edwin P. Fischer.

Edwin Fischer (October 6, 1886 January 24, 1960)
was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is widely
regarded as one of the greatest interpreters of traditional
Germanic repertoire of the twentieth century, and one of
the nest piano pedagogues of the modern era.

Biography

Fischer was born in Basel and studied music rst there,

and later in Berlin at the Stern conservatory under Martin
Krause. He rst came to prominence as a pianist following World War I. In 1926, he became conductor of
the Lbeck Musikverein and later conducted in Munich.
In 1932 he formed his own chamber orchestra, and was
one of the rst to be interested in presenting music of
the Baroque and Classical periods in an historically accurate way. Though his performances were not particularly
historically accurate by present-day standards, they were
for his time; e.g., he did conduct concertos by the likes of
Bach and Mozart from the keyboard, which at the time
was most unusual. His interpretations, even of Bach and
Handel, were Romantically conceived, with a wide use of
dynamics, and extremely compelling.

Two drawings of Fischer by the German artist and musician Fritz

Tennigkeit (18921949)

cellaneous solo Bach works, such as the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, various concertos and sonatas by Mozart
and Beethoven, Schuberts Wanderer Fantasie and Impromptus, and Brahms Second Concerto, conducted by
Wilhelm Furtwngler. Fischers historically important
recordings have been reissued on CD by EMI and by specialty labels such as APR, Music & Arts, Pearl, and Testament. Those of the Mozart Concertos K. 453, 466, 482,
491, & 503 (G major, D minor, E-at major, C minor,
and C major) are particularly outstanding, especially the
last three with the inspired, powerful conducting of John
Barbirolli, Lawrance Collingwood, and Josef Krips reIn 1932 he returned once again to Berlin, succeeding spectively, in 1935, 1937, & 1947.
his great contemporary Artur Schnabel in a teaching role
at the Berlin Hochschule fr Musik after Schnabels de- Fischer also accompanied Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in
parture from Nazi Germany. In 1942 he moved back a renowned early-to-mid-1950s EMI LP of Schubert
to Switzerland, temporarily putting his career on hold Lieder. His last musical collaboration was with the vithrough World War II. After the war, he began to perform olinist Gioconda de Vito. During their recording sessions
again, as well as giving master classes in Lucerne, which for the Brahms violin sonatas Nos. 1 and 3, he had to
were attended by a number of later prominent pianists, go to London for medical treatment; there he was told he
Alfred Brendel, Helena S e Costa, Paul Badura-Skoda, was seriously ill. He died shortly afterwards in Zurich.
Mario Feninger and Daniel Barenboim among them.
As well as solo recitals, concerto performances and conducting of orchestral concerts, Fischer was also engaged 2 Pupils of Edwin Fischer
in chamber music. Particularly highly regarded was the
piano trio he formed with the cellist Enrico Mainardi and For Fischers notable students, see List of music students
the violinist Georg Kulenkamp (who was replaced by by teacher: C to F#Edwin Fischer.
Wolfgang Schneiderhan after Kulenkamps death).
Fischer published a number of books on teaching, and
one on the piano sonatas of Beethoven. He also made
a number of recordings, including the rst complete
traversal of Bachs The Well-Tempered Clavier for EMI,
recorded between 1933 and 1936. Other classic recordings by Fischer include Bach keyboard concertos, mis-

3 Bibliography
Fischer, Edwin, Musikalische Betrachtungen, Im Infel 1949 (Reections on Music) (French Edition:
1

5
Considrations sur la musique, Editions du Coudrier,
1951)
Fischer, Edwin, Ludwig van Beethovens Klaviersonaten: Ein Begleiter fr Studierende und Liebhaber,
1954 (Beethovens Piano Sonatas: A Guide for Students and Amateurs, 1959)
Fischer, Edwin, Johann Sebastian Bach: Eine Studie

Sources
Bredow, Moritz von. 2012. Rebellische Pianistin.
Das Leben der Grete Sultan zwischen Berlin und
New York. (Biography on Edwin Fischers student,
Grete Sultan. Many details referring to Fischer and
another student, Katja Andy. In German.). Schott
Music, Mainz, Germany.ISBN 978-3-7957-0800-9
Gavoty, Bernard, Edwin Fischer (in French)
(collective) Dank an Edwin Fischer, Brockhaus
1962 (Tribute to Edwin Fischer)

External links
Excerpts from two essays by Alfred Brendel on Fischer at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27,
2009)
Youngrok Lees Classical Music page

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

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Edwin_Fischer%2C_1939.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 de Contributors: photographed by Peter Michael Haas Original artist: Else Haas
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