DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

58 FISH FITZWILLIAM
years a great attraction at the Bach-Abel and
Vauxhall concerts, and as a member of the
Queen's band played frequently before the Court.
His playing of Handel's fourth oboe concerto at
the Handel Commemoration in 1784 so delighted
the King that he expressed his satisfaction in
a note on his book of the ^^'ords. (lUemoir of
Dr. Biirnry by Mme. D'Arblay, ii. 385.) His
tone must have been very powerful, since Giardini
the violinist characterised it as ' such an impu-
dence of tone as no other instrument could contend
it was
' with' ; and according to the ABODario
very tine and inexpressibly well-managed. ' On
the death of Stanley, Master of the King's band
(1786), Fischer competed with Burney and others
for the vacant post, but Parsons was appointed,
and Fischer soon after went abroad ,
probably in
disgust at his failure. Mozart in 1766 as a boy
had been enchanted with his playing in Holland,
but on hearing him again in Vienna, severely
criticises him (letter to his father, April 4,'178 7),
and condemns alike his tone, his execution, and
his compositions. From 1790 he remained in
London. While playing at Court he was struck
with paralysis, and died April 29, 1800 (see
I'imes of ila.j 1). Kelly, in his -Reminiscences
(vol. i. 9), gives an anecdote of Fischer's pride
as an artist. A certain nobleman having invited
him to supper much against his wall, said when
he arrived, 'I hoi)e, Mr. Fischer, you have
brought your oboe in your pocket '
; to which he
replied, ' No, ray lord ; my oboe never sups, ' and
instantly left the house. He was very intimate
with Gainsborough, who was a gi'eat lover of
music, and wdiose pretty daughter Mary he
married, though the father gave a very unwilling
consent, foreseeing the short duration of the
mart'iage. (Fulcher's Life of Gainsborough.)
There is a fine portrait of Fischer by Gainsborough
at Hampton Court (private dining-room.
No. 747). Thicknesse mentions a second in full
uniform — ' scarlet and gold like a colonel of the
Foot Guards.'
Zuck and Kellner were his best-known pupils
in London. J. C. Bach wrote for him a quartet
for two oboes, viola, and violoncello, which he
often played. His own compositions (of which
Fetis and Gerber give a partial list) consist of
solos, duets, concertos, quartets, etc. On this
point the ABUDario says, ' As a composer his
desire to be original often makes him introduce
whimsical and outre passages, which nothing
but his playing could cover.' Mozart, in spite
of his unfavourable ojiinion of him, immortalised
his minuet by writing variations for it (1773),
wliich he often played to dis]ilay his bravura
(Kiichel, No. 179). ' This minuet was then all
the rage,' as Kelly writes, after hearing Fischer
play it in Dublin {Pvem. i. 9), and it continued
to be the rage for Tnany years. c. r. p.
FISH, William, born in Norwich in 1775,
became, early in life, a violinist in the theatre
' See Otto Jahn'a Mozart (Oerman edition), iii. 309.
there. He was next a teacher of music, then
principal oboist at the theatre, etc. , and eventually
leader of the band at the concerts. He
numbeied among his pupils Edward Taylor,
afterwards Gresham professor of music, and
George Perry, afterwards leader of the
the Sacred Harmonic Society. He
band of
died in
Nonvich, March 15, 1866. He composed
numerous songs, and other vocal pieces, a piano-
forte sonata, op. 1, and concertos for various
instruments. w. H. h.
FISHER, John Abraham, Mus.Doc, was
born at Dunstable (or London) in 1744, He
became a student of the violin under Pinto, and
made his first appearance in public in July 1765
at the King's Theatre, in a concert for the benefit
of the Musical Fund. About 1770 he married
a daughter of Powell the actor, and became, in
her right, proprietor of a sixteenth share in
Covent Garden Theatre. He composed for that
and other theatres the music for the following
pantomimes, viz., 'Zobeide,' 1771 ; 'The
Monster of the Wood,' 1772; 'The Sylphs,'
1774 ;
' Prometheus,' 1776 ; and 'The Norwood
Gipsies,' 1777 ; and also music for the opening
of 'Macbeth.' On July 2, 1777, an oratorio
by Fisher, entitled ' Providence,' was performed
in the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, and on
the 5th of the same month the composer (as a
member of Magdalen College) accumulated the
degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Music. His
oratorio was performed in Freemasons' Hall,
London, on May 28, 1778, for the benefit of
the Middlesex Hospital, and again in 1780. On
the death of his wife Fisher disposed of his
interest in Covent Garden Theatre, and started
on a professional tour through Russia and
Germany. In 1784 he reached Vienna, where
he induced the youthful Anna Selina Storace
to become his second wife—contrary to the
advdce of all her friends. The union proved
an unhappy one, and in a short time the parties
separated and the wife never after used her
husband's name. The Emperor, incensed at
Storace's having had to submit to blows from her
husband, ordered Fisher to quit his dominions.
He then went to Dublin and gave a few success-
ful concerts in the Rotunda. [He was in
Ireland from 1786 to 17S8 (see Lady Morgan's
Memoirs). He left Ireland before 1798 and
died, probably in London, in May 1806.
w. H. c. F.] Besides the above-named com-
positions Fisher published some symphonies for
orchestra, and other works, for which see the
QucUcn-Leril-nn. w. H. H.
FITZWILLIAM, Edwaep Francis, son of
Edward and Frances Fitzwilliam—both actors
and singers— born at Deal, August 1, 1824.
He was educaterl for the musical profession,
and devoted himself especially to the study of
composition. In 1853 he published a set of
twelve songs which were much admired, and in
the same year was appointed director of the