Johann Christian Fischer

Not to be confused with Johann Christian Fischer, a German-born French soldier.
Portrait, by Thomas Gainsborough, Fischer's father-in-law, 1780, the year he married Mary Gainsborough[1][2] (Royal Collection)

Johann Christian Fischer (c. 1733 – 29 April 1800) was a German composer and oboist, one of the best-known oboe soloists in Europe during the 1770s.[3]

Employed as a music copyist and theatre director for the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at Ludwigslust, Fischer is now credited with the unique Symphony with Eight Obbligato Timpani, formerly attributed to Johann Wilhelm Hertel, court composer at Schwerin.[4] He spent some time in Dresden, but left after the Prussian occupation in the Seven Years' War for extensive concertizing tours,[5] ending in London, where he was active as a performer, composer, and a teacher, and introduced the Continental narrow-bore model of oboe that replaced the bright and penetrating straight-topped English type.[6] In London Fischer joined the largely German "Queen's Band" of George III's German Queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.[7]

Fischer was a contemporary of Thomas Gainsborough, and in fact, they were friends. Fischer formed an attachment with Gainsborough's daughter Mary ("Molly") while he carried on flirtation with Gainsborough's other daughter Margaret ("Peggy").[2] In February 1780, Fischer married Mary, but the marriage only lasted 8 months due to their discord and Fischer's deceit.[2]

Fischer published several teaching manuals for the oboe, with varying titles: The Compleat Tutor for the Hautboy (ca 1770), New and Complete Instructions for the Oboe or Hoboy (ca 1780)[8] and The Hoboy Preceptor (1800). Among his students was composer and oboist Charles J. Suck.

An etching/aquatint A Sunday concert by Charles Loraine Smith, published 4 June 1782,[9] shows a distinguished musical group gathered round a harpsichord, with Fischer and Charles Burney among them.

Mozart composed a set of Twelve Variations in C on a Menuett of Johann Christian Fischer (K.179 [189a]).

  1. ^ Geoffrey Burgess (oboist) and Bruce Haynes, The Oboe, 2004:87
  2. ^ a b c Hamilton, James (2017-07-13). Gainsborough: A Portrait. W&N. ISBN 978-1474600521.
  3. ^ "The two best-known hautboy soloists in Europe in the 1770s were probably Johann Christian Fischer (1733–1800) and Carlo Besozzi (1738–1791)" (Burgess and Haynes 2004:87).
  4. ^ "Naxos.com: Composers". Archived from the original on 2020-05-07. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  5. ^ He met the nine-year-old Mozart at The Hague in 1765 and again in Vienna in 1787, when Mozart was less impressed (Letter, 4 April 1787).
  6. ^ Anthony Baines, Woodwind Instruments and Their History, 1967:281.
  7. ^ F. Anne M.R. Jarvis, "German musicians in London, c.1750 – c.1850" in Stefan Manz, Margrit Schulte Beerbühl, John R. Davis eds., Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660–1914 2007:44 and note 38.
  8. ^ Bruce Haynes, The Eloquent Oboe: A History of the Hautboy 1640–1760, 2001:5.
  9. ^ National Portrait Gallery, London