Edwin Fischer

Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart of the twentieth century.

Fischer was born in Basel and studied music first there, and later in Berlin at the Stern conservatory under Martin Krause. He first came to prominence as a pianist following World War I. In 1926, he became conductor of the Lübeck Musikverein and later conducted in Munich. In 1932 he formed his own chamber orchestra, and was one of the first to be interested in presenting music of the Baroque and Classical periods in a historically accurate way. Although his performances were not historically accurate by present-day standards, they were for his time; e.g., he did conduct Bach and Mozart concertos from the keyboard, an unusual practice at that time. His interpretations of Bach and Handel were Romantically conceived, with a wide dynamic range but often quite compelling.

In 1932 he returned once again to Berlin, succeeding his great contemporary Artur Schnabel in a teaching role at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik after Schnabel's exile (he was Jewish, and Fischer was not) from Nazi Germany. In 1942 he moved back to Switzerland, temporarily putting his career on hold through World War II. After the war he began to perform again, and gave master classes in Lucerne for a number of later prominent pianists such as Alfred Brendel, Helena Sá e Costa, Mario Feninger, the great Paul Badura-Skoda and the brilliant young Daniel Barenboim.

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