William Arms Fisher

American historian, music editor, and writer on music (1861–1948)
William Arms Fisher (April 27, 1861 – December 18, 1948) was an American composer, music historian and writer.

Fisher was born in San Francisco, California, on April 27, 1861. He received his first lesson in music from John P. Morgan, a leading Western musician. Intended for a business career, he was led to devote himself entirely to music, and with that end in view he left California in 1890 and went to New York City. There he studied under Antonín Dvořák and Horatio Parker at the National Conservatory of Music of America.

In an 1893 interview, Antonín Dvořák challenged white 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. 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 MENC: The National Association for Music Education. The article quotes an anonymous reviewer, "by all means let us have Fisher to arrange" Negro spirituals. One of his compositions appeared in the 1947 film Buck Privates Come Home.