Fischer, Carl

Fischer, Carl, German-American music publisher;b. Buttstadt, Thuringia, Dec. 7, 1849; d. N.Y., Feb. 14, 1923. He studied music in Gotha. He entered a partnership in an instrument manufacturing business with his brother August Emil Fischer in Bremen. In 1872 he went to N.Y. and opened a music store at 79 East 4th St. In 1923 the store was moved to 62 Cooper Square. He secured the rights for republishing orch. scores and parts by German composers, eventually creating one of the most important of American music publishing firms. From 1907 to 1931 the firm publ. a monthly periodical, the Musical Observer, ed. by Gustav Sanger; in 1923 the business was incorporated and Carl Fischer’s son Walter S. Fischer (b. N.Y., April 18, 1882; d. there, April 26, 1946) became president; after his death, Frank H. Connor (1903–77) was elected president; upon his death he was succeeded by his son. In 1909 the firm established a branch in Boston, which was expanded in 1960 through the purchase of the Charles Homeyer Music Co. of Boston; in 1935 a branch was also opened in Los Angeles, and in 1969 one in San Francisco. In 1947 the firm occupied a new building in N.Y. at 165 West 57th St., which also housed a concert hall. The catalog of the firm is representative of all genres of musical composition; early acquisitions were works by composers living in America, including Rachmaninoff and Ernest Bloch. In the last quarter of the century, the firm publ. a number of instrumental and vocal works by composers of the avant-garde, including some in graphic notation.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire