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Founded | 1872 |
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Founder | Carl Fischer |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | 48 Wall Street, 28th Floor, New York City, New York, 10043 |
Publication types | Sheet music |
Official website | www |
Carl Fischer Music is a sheet music publisher. It was founded in 1872 in the East Village neighborhood of New York City as a musical instrument repair shop. Except for a brief period in the early 1930s, it has always been the family-owned business of the Fischer-Connor family.
In 2013, the company moved to the Wall Street area.
They publish both performance and educational music for students, teachers, and virtuosos.
Carl Fischer's composers and editors give clinics and sessions nationally. The company claims to serve more than 2,000 retailers around the world. [1]
In 1872, Carl Fischer opened his musical instrument repair shop in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. After noticing that many of his customers were searching for instrumental arrangements of well-known works that didn't exist, Fischer began creating and reproducing arrangements, which led him into the music publishing business. Carl Fischer became the preeminent publisher of music for concert band composers such as Percy Grainger and John Philip Sousa, as well as the transcriptions of Erik W. G. Leidzén and Mayhew Lake.
Carl Fischer was also a musical instrument dealer; from the 1890s to 1914 he imported wooden flutes made by Emil Rittershausen (Berlin, Germany). During this early period, Carl Fisher was also the sole U.S. agent for Besson instruments but also imported stenciled brass instruments from Courtois, Alexander, and Bohland & Fuchs. [2] In 1910, Fischer won the importation rights for woodwinds manufactured by Buffet-Crampon of France. In 1929, the C.G. Conn Ltd. corporation acquired the musical instrument department from the company, maintaining the Carl Fischer retail operations as a consortium between Conn and the music publisher under the Carl Fischer name. Instruments from various manufacturers of the period were sold under the Carl Fischer House brand.
As the company grew and diversified, Fischer's three sons joined the team: Carl, Jr., Walter S., and George. In 1924, Carl Fischer Music was invited to be a member of ASCAP, adding the company's publications to an established network of artists and composers. The company continued to grow, necessitating the building of Carl Fischer's new headquarters in 1926, located in Cooper Square, Manhattan. This building housed administrative offices and a retail store. {{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}
Walter S. Fischer succeeded his father as President of Carl Fischer Music in 1923.
In 1930, National Broadcast Company (NBC) bought Leo Feist, Inc., the largest music publisher of the time, and Carl Fischer, Inc. They operated semi-autonomously within an NBC-owned holding company, Radio Music Company. [3]
In 1932, the Fischer and Feist families bought back their interests from NBC, taking the two companies private again. [3]
In 1939, Walter S. Fischer's son-in-law, Frank Hayden Connor, became his assistant.
Classical music had been a part of the company's catalog starting in the 1920s, it was the 1930s and 1940s that were marked by the significant contributions of works and arrangements from well-established classical music figures such as Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Charlotte Ruegger, and Joseph Szigeti. The company also holds copyright to The U.S. Air Force Song.
Connor became the president of the company and opened Carl Fischer's second retail location, which also housed a concert hall at 165 West 57th Street in midtown Manhattan. This five-story building was the largest music store in New York City until it was sold in 1959. In 1940, the company acquired the York Band Instrument Company for $300,000. Production at the York facility was switched over to munitions during World War II, after which the York brand subsequently down scaled their production to budget lines of instruments provided by various suppliers.
Notable additions to the catalog during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s include significant works by Howard Hanson, Norman Dello Joio, Lukas Foss, Peter Mennin, Douglas Moore, and Anton Webern. During this period, Carl Fischer Music represented Oxford University Press, Paterson's of London, Henle Verlag of Germany, Cundy-Bettoney, Eastman School of Music (containing music by then-director Howard Hanson), the Fillmore Music catalog (containing Henry Fillmore's marches), and the Charles Foley catalog (containing the compositions of Fritz Kreisler).
Walter Fischer Connor became president and chairman of the board, as well as chairman of Boosey and Hawkes, a British music publishing company, for a short time. During this time, Carl Fischer Music developed the Rack Sense program, the first sophisticated computerized system for stocking music stores with high-turnover print music products. Composer Andrew Balent created the Sounds Spectacular series for bands, a forerunner in the area of music for young bands. It was also during this period that Carl Fischer Music began to publish the works of fast-rising composers such as Henry Brant, Michael Colgrass, Sebastian Currier, Jason Eckardt, Daron Hagen, Lee Hyla, Martin Bresnick, David Carlson, Paul Lansky, Daniel S. Godfrey, Samuel Jones, and David Maslanka. In 1999, F. Hayden Connor, the great-grandson of founder Carl Fischer, became chairman, and music publishing icon Sandy Feldstein was hired to lead the firm into the 21st century. Carl Fischer Music moved its corporate headquarters to the landmark Bayard-Condict Building in the NoHo neighborhood of Greenwich Village.
The 2000s saw the launch of the Performance Series for school concert band and string orchestra. The Series features original works and arrangements organized by grade level for directors' ease of use. In 2008, BriLee Music joined the Carl Fischer choral catalog. Carl Fischer Music continues to release enhanced editions of essential methods, such as the Wohlfahrt Violin Studies and the Rose Studies for Flute and Clarinet.
In 2011, former TMEA president and active educator Denise Eaton joined the editorial team as choral editor. [4] Carl Fischer Music is under the leadership of CEO Sonya Kim. In 2013 the Carl Fischer Music administrative offices moved to 48 Wall Street.
The cornet is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B♭. There is also a soprano cornet in E♭ and cornets in A and C. All are unrelated to the Renaissance and early Baroque cornett.
The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word εὔφωνος euphōnos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced". The euphonium is a valved instrument. Nearly all current models have piston valves, though some models with rotary valves do exist.
The saxophone is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to produce a sound wave inside the instrument's body. The pitch is controlled by opening and closing holes in the body to change the effective length of the tube. The holes are closed by leather pads attached to keys operated by the player. Saxophones are made in various sizes and are almost always treated as transposing instruments. A person who plays the saxophone is called a saxophonist or saxist.
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Nearly all trombones use a telescoping slide mechanism to alter the pitch instead of the valves used by other brass instruments. The valve trombone is an exception, using three valves similar to those on a trumpet, and the superbone has valves and a slide.
Henry Fillmore was an American musician, composer, publisher, and bandleader, best known for his many marches and screamers, a few of which he wrote for the Band of the Hour at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
M. Witmark & Sons was a leading publisher of sheet music for the United States "Tin Pan Alley" music industry.
C. G. Conn Ltd., Conn Instruments or commonly just Conn, is a former American manufacturer of musical instruments incorporated in 1915. It bought the production facilities owned by Charles Gerard Conn, a major figure in early manufacture of brasswinds and saxophones in the USA. Its early business was based primarily on brass instruments, which were manufactured in Elkhart, Indiana. During the 1950s the bulk of its sales revenue shifted to electric organs. In 1969 the company was sold in bankruptcy to the Crowell-Collier-MacMillan publishing company. Conn was divested of its Elkhart production facilities in 1970, leaving remaining production in satellite facilities and contractor sources.
Conn-Selmer, Inc. is an American manufacturer of musical instruments for concert bands, marching bands and orchestras. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed in 2003 by combining the Steinway properties, The Selmer Company and United Musical Instruments.
Norman Dello Joio was an American composer active for over half a century. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957.
"The High School Cadets" is a march written in 1890 by John Philip Sousa in honor of the cadet drill team of Washington High School in the District of Columbia. It is in regimental march form (I-AA-BB-CC-DD) and is a popular selection for school concert and marching bands, as well as for professional orchestras and bands. The march has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles, and has been frequently recorded, including at least two recorded performances by Sousa's own band. The march's final strains were featured in the 1939 film The Under-Pup.
Scott Boerma is a composer of contemporary classical music, an arranger of music for marching ensembles, and the Director of Bands at Western Michigan University.
Marco Katz serves as an editor for a series that brings together music and literature at Palgrave Macmillan. He plays trombone and arranges and composes music for band, brass quintet and other musical ensembles. The reviewer Adam Gaines, in a review of the Bundee Brothers Bone Band album, wrote that "Katz's compositions are a real highlight of the disc. His trombone writing is expertly idiomatic, and his music is harmonically interesting without being obtuse." Mundo Universitario, a program televised by the University of Valle, featured "Marco Katz, master of literature and a professional musician, who was the last trombonist with the legends Charlie Palmieri and Mon Rivera."
Leopold Feist, was a pioneer in the popular music publishing business. In 1897, Feist founded and ran a music publishing firm bearing his name. In the 1920s, at the height of the golden age of popular music, his firm was among the seven largest publishers of popular music in the world. The company used the motto "You can't go wrong, with any FEIST Song."
King Musical Instruments is a former musical instrument manufacturing company located in Cleveland, Ohio, that used the trade name King for its instruments. In 1965 the company was acquired by the Seeburg Corporation of Eastlake, Ohio, and the name changed to "King Musical Instruments".
Washington Grays is an American march composed by Claudio S. Grafulla in 1861. It is a mainstay of both the parade and concert band march repertoire.
Chester Conn was an American composer of popular music and music publisher.
The York Band Instrument Company was a musical instrument manufacturer in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Alan Raph was an American bass trombonist, composer, arranger, and conductor who founded and conducted the Danbury Brass Band. He recorded with many well-known musicians including Quincy Jones, Philip Glass, Peter Nero, John Pizzarelli and Bob Brookmeyer for television, movies, and ballet. He was for many years on first call with most New York City recording studios.
George Levi Atwater (1866–1931) was a late 19th-early 20th century American composer and arranger from New Haven, Connecticut, and was a contemporary of ragtime songwriter, C.W. O'Connor. He is best known for his arrangements of Yale fight songs.
Lee Orean Smith was an American composer, arranger, music editor, publisher, music teacher, multi-instrumentalist, and conductor. A diverse composer who began his career writing Tin Pan Alley songs and music for the theatre, he later had a prolific output of published band and orchestral works; both arrangements and original pieces. He published music not only under his own name, but also under numerous pseudonyms, including Calvin Grooms, Maurice Lee, Leon Obrero, José Santos, Leopold Lamont, and François Chevalier. Smith composed music for multiple works staged on Broadway, and was the longtime managing editor of the band and orchestra department in the music publishing firm of Leo Feist. At the time of his death he was an editor for Carl Fischer Music.