Der Habile Violiste

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Each new album by Antoinette Lohmann and her ensemble Furor Musicus charts unknown territories, and this one, with repertoire by the German composer Johann Fischer (1646-1716/17) is no exception. Intrigued by the 17th century distinction between educated violinists and self-taught fiddlers, Antoinette has once again found a composer who provides music in both styles. For the occasion even an alternative ensemble Furor Agraricus was formed, employing such rustic instruments as Bumbass and clogfiddle. The album title Der habile Violiste (the skilled violinist) refers to the subtitle of one of Fischer's most witty compositions, in which he forces the soloist to change between three different instruments (violino piccolo, violin and viola), all in in different tunings (scordatura) so quickly that the player is bound for trouble...

Johann Fischer (Augsburg 1646 - Schwedt 1716/17), not to be confused with the theologian Johann Fischer (1636 - 1705) or the composer Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656 - 1746), was the eighth child of the town musician Jonas Fischer, although some sources report that Jonas was a Spielmann (see under ‘Fiddlers’). Little is known about Johann Fischer’s early life and the sources sometimes provide contradictory information, also concerning his later years. To complicate matters further, some sources mix up the various Johann Fischers with each other, and there is even confusion surrounding the portraits! In his Grundlage einer Ehrenpforte (1740), Johann Mattheson offered a great deal of information about Johann Fischer; however, there are inevitable gaps and, on top of this, his somewhat moralising fantasy occasionally seemed to run away with him. Fortunately, most of the gaps could be filled using other sources. It seems probable that Johann took his first music lessons from his father; however, this must have been for a fairly short period, considering that his father already passed away in 1656. Johann was also a choirboy in the Lutheran Kantorei of the St Anna Gymnasium, which was directed by Tobias Kriegsdorfer. St Anna produced numerous musicians and composers of note, including Jakob Scheiffelhut, Georg Schmezer and Daniel Merck. The latter wrote the Compendium musicae instrumentalis Chelicae (Augsburg, 1695), one of the most important 17th-century treatises for string players. In 1661 Fischer went to Stuttgart to study with Samuel Capricornus (Bockshorn), who was in the service of the Württemberg court as Kapellmeister until his death in 1665. © Challenge Records