Edwin Fischer facts for kids
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Edwin Fischer (born October 6, 1886 – died January 24, 1960) was a famous Swiss classical pianist and conductor. Many people consider him one of the best performers of music by J.S. Bach and Mozart in the 1900s.
Biography of Edwin Fischer
Fischer was born in Basel, Switzerland. He started studying music there and later in Berlin. His teacher was Martin Krause at the Stern conservatory. He became well-known as a pianist after World War I.
In 1926, he became the conductor of the Lübeck Musikverein. He also conducted music in Munich. In 1932, he started his own small orchestra, called a chamber orchestra. He was one of the first musicians to try to play Baroque and Classical music in a way that was true to how it sounded long ago.
Even though his performances might not be exactly "historically accurate" by today's standards, they were very advanced for his time. For example, he would play the piano and conduct Bach and Mozart concertos at the same time. This was very unusual back then! His performances of Bach and Handel were very expressive and powerful.
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In 1932, Fischer moved back to Berlin. He took over a teaching job at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. He replaced another great pianist, Artur Schnabel, who had left Germany. In 1942, Fischer moved back to Switzerland. He paused his career during World War II.
After the war, he started performing again. He also taught special classes in Lucerne. Many future famous pianists learned from him. These included Alfred Brendel, Paul Badura-Skoda, and Daniel Barenboim.
Besides playing solo concerts and conducting, Fischer also played a lot of chamber music. This is music for a small group of instruments. He had a very famous piano trio with cellist Enrico Mainardi and violinist Georg Kulenkampff. After Kulenkampff passed away, Wolfgang Schneiderhan joined the trio.
Fischer's Recordings and Books
Edwin Fischer wrote several books about teaching music. He also wrote a book about the piano sonatas of Beethoven. He made many important recordings.
One of his most famous recordings was the first complete set of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier. He recorded this on the piano between 1933 and 1936 for EMI. Other classic recordings include Bach keyboard concertos and other solo Bach pieces. He also recorded many concertos and sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven.
His recordings of Mozart's Piano Concertos (like K. 453, 466, 482, 491 and 503) are especially well-known. He played these with great conductors like John Barbirolli and Josef Krips.
Fischer also played piano for singer Elisabeth Schwarzkopf on a famous recording of Schubert songs. His last musical project was with violinist Gioconda de Vito. They were recording Brahms violin sonatas when Fischer became very ill. He passed away shortly after in Zürich.
Pupils of Edwin Fischer
See also
In Spanish: Edwin Fischer para niños
