Carrying on the Legacy of G.W. Fisk

Program from a Greeley Music Lecture focusing on preservation of Fisk Violins.

I have restarted the research and book about G.W. Fisk that Peggy Ford-Waldo and I started in 2019.

Since 2010 I had the privilege of working with Peggy, one of the most inspiring people that I have ever met.

Peggy and I met at L.C. Oriental Taste off of West 10th in Greeley (now Bhansa) very randomly. I was attempting to help the restaurant with marketing, and Sue, the owner, introduced us as she sat Peggy at her booth. Peggy immediately invited me to sit and eat lunch with her.

We were immediately good friends. Peggy had been working her entire life on the preservation and discovery of history in and around Greeley. Her knowledge was encyclopedic. Many afternoons, after lunch, we would walk downtown and she would bestow her knowledge of every building, every lot, every park, and every occurrence as we walked by their locations. It's as if Peggy could see back to each year, decade, and century. She would emphatically tell the stories of Greeley ghosts past, to me, an audience of one, on many warm spring days.

Peggy had an infectious excitement for Greeley, and soon after meeting, she quickly whisked me into her myriad of projects.

One project that we worked together on for over a decade is the Historic Preservation of Fisk Violins. Peggy put together a lecture that she and I gave on Monday, May 8th, 2017 at the Kress Theater where I had the wonderful opportunity to perform on a Fisk. The program was titled "In Tune with the Past . . . and the Present:  Historic Preservation Perspectives in Greeley, Colorado."

Here is the Program from that Lecture

And here are the excerpts that I performed:

• Caprice 24 - Var. 1-2 by Niccolo Paganini 

• Student Concerto No. 5 Op. 22 by Fritz Seitz

• Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms

• Hungarian Dance No. 1 by Johannes Brahms

• Hymn To Liberty by Edouard Remenyi

• Nocturne in g minor Op. 15 No. 3 by Frederic Chopin

Peggy and I began to write a book in 2019 about Fisk before she unfortunately passed away in 2021 and I was lost in how to finish what she started.

I am finally buckling down with new enthusiasm, and I am going to continue this project and finish the book.

Here is a little excerpt of a draft of our book, with many more to come.

"George W. Fisk was a man who captivated the world with his violins and his colorful life. Born on May 30th, 1838 in Bennington, Vermont - he quickly moved to Hoosick Falls, New York with his parents where he soon became employed at Wood and Parsons, a machinery and lumber operation as a pattern maker under the famous farming equipment businessman, Walter A. Wood. 

In time, a self-taught musician, Fisk joined the Bennington Cornet Band as a Baritone Cornet player and served in the Civil War under Franklin M. Crossett in the 2nd Vermont Volunteer Regimental Band, in which Fisk played during the battle of Bull Run. 

Fisk moved to the Union Colony (now Greeley, CO) in 1870 (he left and returned permanently in 1876) and set up shop as a violin maker and furniture maker. 

Edouard Remenyi, a world-famous Hungarian Violinist and Composer performed in Greeley and was introduced to Fisk. They soon became friends and Remenyi wrote a letter to Fisk shortly before his death proclaiming Fisk to be "The best Violin maker in not only the United States but also the World." 

Many famous musicians, philosophers, writers, and politicians have some connection with Fisk including Remenyi, Shubert, Brahms, Delbridge, Stark, Dupre, Fisher, Hubbard, Eaton, and more. 

To date, we know that G.W. Fisk made 163 violins and 2 violas."

This website and project are dedicated to G.W. Fisk, the "Stradivarius of the West", and Peggy Ford-Waldo, my friend, mentor, and inspiration.