Background
Fisher, William Arms was born on April 27, 1861 in San Francisco, California, United States. Son of Luther Paine and Katharine (Arms) Fisher.
composer historian music historian
Fisher, William Arms was born on April 27, 1861 in San Francisco, California, United States. Son of Luther Paine and Katharine (Arms) Fisher.
Educational public schools. Studied harmony and organ under John P. Morgan, Oakland, California. Counterpoint, canon and fugue under Horatio West. Parker, New New York
Composition under Anton Dvořák, New New York
Singing under William Shakespeare, London.
He was president of both the Music Teachers National Association and the Music Publishers" National Association. He also worked for the music publisher Oliver Ditson Company which was later taken over by the Theodore Presser Company. He died in Brookline, Massachusetts on December 18, 1948.
In an 1893 interview, Antonín Dvořák challenged American composers to make better use of the "negro melodies of America", feeling that they were needed as the basis for "any serious and original school of composition" in America.
Antonín Dvořák"s New World Symphony was played at Carnegie Hall on December 16, 1893. Later William Arms Fisher wrote a text to the cor anglais tune in the second movement, entitled "Goin" Home", which has been mistaken for a Negro spiritual.
In response to the challenge and the symphony, William Arms Fisher published an arrangement of Seventy Negro Spirituals in 1926. William Arms Fisher wrote an article for Music Educators" Journal in 1933 titled "Music in a Changing World." Patrick Freer of Music Educators" Journal said that "Fisher’s article was one of the first to interrogate the role of popular music within music education".
In his article, Fisher said that music is important in every community.
A quote from his article is "Blessed are the music-makers, for they shall uplift and unite the Earth." which was mentioned by the Music Educators National Conference: The National Association for Music Education. An article in The Crisis published in February 1927 called William Arms Fisher "a worthy pupil and disciple of Dvořák" and asked if he "would waste his time over futile music". The article quoted an anonymous reviewer saying, "If we must have Negro spirituals, by all means let us have Fisher to arrange them."
Fisher"s compositions have been featured in several albums.
One of his compositions appeared in the 1947 film Buck Privates Come Home.
Member American Society, Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Married Emma Roderick Hinckle, February 14, 1922.