Unfortunately little is known about Fischer's early life. The first reference to him comes in an announcement of the birth of his son. Musically he was first referred to as accepting the post of Hofkapellmeister to the Margrave of Baden (1695). (A number of his works were dedicated to either the Margrave, the Margrave's wife, or his children.) In 1716 the court moved to Rastatt where Fischer spent the rest of his life. The types of compositions that Fischer wrote included instrumental suites, preludes and fugues and various vocal pieces for the church. "Pieces de clavessin" was the primary accomplishment of Fischer. He explored the structure of the suite by adding the French dances like the minuet, gavotte, passepied and canaries rather than maintaining the standard allemande-courante-sarabande. Numbers and types of dances also varied from suite to suite. The "Ariadne" was another collection of preludes and fugues written in each key exploring the tempering of keyboard instruments. This particular collection was a forerunner, and thus an influence on, J. S. Bach whose "Well Tempered Clavier" and "Die Kunst der Fuge" are well knwon explorations of key orientation and thematic development. ~ Keith Johnson