John U. Fischer

Biography

John U. Fischer descended from a line of piano makers: his grandfather, a Vienna-trained maker, settled in Naples and was appointed piano maker to King Ferdinand I; his father continued that Naples business after studying with Vienna masters. John U., along with his brother Charles S. Fischer, inherited the family's 'wanderlust' and emigrated to New York City in 1839, taking employment with William Nunns and soon becoming his partners under the name Nunns & Fischer. When Nunns retired in 1840 the firm became J. & C. Fischer, building a reliable piano and accumulating great wealth. In 1873, John U. Fischer retired with a competency to spend the rest of his days in Italy, his ancestral homeland, leaving his brother Charles S. Fischer to admit his own four sons to the business. From Spillane (1890): J. Fischer was a member of the New York piano firm J. & C. Fischer, one of the city's largest and most successful manufacturers of popular-priced instruments. He retired from the firm in 1873 with a handsome competence, after which his brother C. S. Fischer assumed the sole position of senior partner and continued the business under the old firm name.

Highlights

• Grandson and son of Neapolitan court piano makers; emigrated to New York in 1839 with his brother Charles S. Fischer.
• Partnered with William Nunns to form Nunns & Fischer, later J. & C. Fischer after Nunns's retirement in 1840.
• Retired with a competency in 1873 to return to his homeland, Italy.
• Retired from J. & C. Fischer in 1873 with a handsome competence

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 289.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 200.

Public domain.