MY HUSBAND has eagerly awaited the University of Northern Colorado/Greeley Jazz Festival, and with all of his talk about music and musicians, the musical heritage of Greeley once again reverberated in my mind. Many Greeleyites were, and are accomplished musicians. By the 1890s, the community had already tuned into culture on a regular basis, and the two opera houses on 8th Avenue were busy places.
One man, George Fisk, spent a lot of time in these opera houses, as he was, for 30 years, the director of the local theater orchestra. However, it was his 40-year career as Greeley's resident violin maker which earned him the sobriquet, "The Stradivarius of the West." Fisk was born in Bennington, Vt., May 30, 1838. Skilled with his hands, he crafted violins from scrap lumber as a teenager. When his family moved to Hoosick Falls, N.Y., Fisk worked in a mill there as a pattern maker. At the age of 21, he and some friends started a brass band, and when the Civil War started, Fish (Fisk) and other members of the Hoosick Falls band enlisted in the Second Vermont Regiment Infantry Band.
In 1870, Fisk learned of Nathan Meeker's plan to start a town in the West, so he promptly joined the Union Colony. In Greeley, Fisk and his family resided in a modest cottage at 710 12th St., and in a small workshop at 714 12th St., Fisk began making violins which evolved into instruments heralded for their superior tone, beauty, and craftsmanship.
Fisk's career was launched by the celebrated Hungarian violinist, Edouard Remenyi. Remenyi was the featured soloist at a concert held in the Greeley Opera House in 1881.
After the concert, George Fisk cornered the renowned violinist and had him inspect and critique several violins he had made. Remenyi gave Fisk his honest opinion: The form of the violins was "abominably hideous," and the "varnish which is so essential to a violin was simply ugly," and "the tone was not bad, but by no means good." The only thing not lacking in Fisk's instruments was the impeccable, almost perfect craftsmanship.
Remenyi realized that Fisk lacked a fine pattern on which to model his violins, so he sent him a French violin made in the classic style of the great Italian violin maker, Stradivarius. Remenyi insisted that Fisk imitate this "correct form" in making violins.
Sixteen months later, a concert engagement brought Remenyi back to Greeley, and Fisk presented him with a beautifully crafted violin that had a "magnificent, grand, and mellow tone." According to Remenyi, " A woman may be beautiful, but her beauty does not imply goodness. Not so with a violin. A fine-looking violin, perfect in form, perfect in workmanship inside and outside, has always a fine tone, and is always good — this is the difference between a woman and a violin."
In Remenyi's opinion, Risk ranked as one of four great violin makers in America. Remenyi said, "Fisk makes violins to the glory of God, just as Stradivarius did. I used to play a Strad, then a woman who loved me gave me a Joseph Guarnerius, but now I play a Fisk." Remenyi affectionately dubbed his Fisk violin "The Princess." With Remenyi's seal of approval, orders poured into Fisk's shop for his violins, and the demand far exceeded the supply. Fisk worked alone in his shop and produced between four to eight violins per year.
By 1901 he had produced 105 violins, and in 1917 at the age of 79, he had made 162 violins and one viola. In his travels to New England, Fisk gleaned wood for making violins from colonial buildings that were being tom down, and from pieces of discarded furniture. Fisk often entertained many visitors in his shop, including students from the music department at the State Normal School (now UNC).
The price of a Fisk violin in 1910 was approximately $200. Fisk, who resembled in appearance the American poets William Cullen Bryant and Walt Whitman, died at his home in Greeley on Sept. 15, 1926, at the age of 88.
~ Peggy A. Ford is a resident of Greeley and Coordinator of
Research and Education for the City of Greeley Museums.
Date unknown.