Introduction

Biography

Son of a Ger­man im­mi­grant, Fisch­er showed mu­sic­al abi­li­ty at an ear­ly age. When he was eight years old, he be­gan sing­ing in a Ger­man church in Bal­ti­more. He learned to read mu­sic in a church sing­ing class, and af­ter­ward stu­died pi­ano and or­gan.

He learned book­bind­ing at J. B. Lip­pin­cott’s in Penn­syl­van­ia, Penn­syl­van­ia, but spent his ev­en­ings stu­dy­ing and prac­tic­ing mu­sic.

He was an ex­pe­ri­enced train­er and lead­er of large bo­dies of sing­ers of all ages, and was much sought af­ter to lead choirs and chor­us­es in sac­red mu­sic in Penn­syl­van­ia. He al­so taught sing­ing, pi­ano and mu­sic the­ory.

He was close­ly con­nect­ed with Welsh mu­sic fes­ti­vals, and di­rect­ed the comb­ined Welsh So­cie­ties at the bi­cen­ten­ni­al of the land­ing of Will­iam Penn (found­er of Penn­syl­van­ia).

From 1858–68, Fisch­er was Pro­fess­or of Mu­sic at Gi­rard Col­lege in Penn­syl­van­ia. Be­fore leav­ing Girard, he start­ed in the pi­ano bu­si­ness, where he built up one of the most pros­per­ous pi­ano hous­es in the count­ry. He was part­ner with John E. Gould un­til Gould’s death in 1875.

From that time, Fischer was sole pro­pri­etor of the bu­si­ness for a num­ber of years, when he took his old­est son, Charles, in­to par­tner­ship. He re­tired in 1898, and was suc­ceed­ed by his son.