Victor Herbert

thumb|Victor Herbert in 1906

Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I. He was also prominent among the Tin Pan Alley composers and was later a founder of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). A prolific composer, Herbert produced two operas, a cantata, 43 operettas, incidental music to 10 plays, 31 compositions for orchestra, nine band compositions, nine cello compositions, five violin compositions with piano or orchestra, 22 piano compositions and numerous songs, choral compositions and orchestrations of works by other composers, among other music.

In the early 1880s, Herbert began a career as a cellist in Vienna and Stuttgart, during which he began to compose orchestral music. Herbert and his opera singer wife, Therese Förster, moved to the U.S. in 1886 when both were engaged by the Metropolitan Opera. In the U.S., Herbert continued his performing career, while also teaching at the National Conservatory of Music, conducting and composing. His most notable instrumental compositions were his Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 30 (1894), which entered the standard repertoire, and his Auditorium Festival March (1901). He conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1898 to 1904 (taking over from founding conductor Frederic Archer) and then founded the Victor Herbert Orchestra, which he conducted throughout the rest of his life.

Herbert began to compose operettas in 1894, producing several successes, including The Serenade (1897) and The Fortune Teller (1898). Some of the operettas that he wrote after the turn of the 20th century were even more successful: Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906), Naughty Marietta (1910), Sweethearts (1913) and Eileen (1917). After World War I, with the change of popular musical tastes, Herbert began to compose musicals and contributed music to other composers' shows. While some of these were well-received, he never again achieved the level of success that he had enjoyed with his most popular operettas.

Biography

Early life and education

Herbert was born on the island of Guernsey to Frances "Fanny" Muspratt (née Lover; c. 1833 – c. 1915) and August Herbert, of whom nothing is known. He was baptized on July 11, 1859, in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Freiburg, Baden, Germany. From 1853, Fanny was separated from her first husband, Frederic Muspratt, who divorced her in 1861 when he found out that she had conceived Herbert by another man. His mother told Herbert that he had been born in Dublin, and he believed this all his life, listing Ireland as his birthplace on his 1902 American naturalization petition and on his 1914 American passport application. or his half-brother, Frederic Percy (1853–1856). The Muspratts, a family of chemical industrialists in Liverpool, raised Angela after the divorce. Herbert and his mother lived with his maternal grandfather, the Irish novelist, playwright, poet and composer, Samuel Lover, from 1862 to 1866 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Herbert joined his mother in Stuttgart, Germany in 1867, a year after she had married a German physician, Carl Theodor Schmid of Langenargen. Herbert's younger half-brother, Wilhelm Marius Schmid, was born there in 1870. In Stuttgart he received a strong liberal education at the Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium, which included musical training. He initially studied the piano, flute and piccolo but ultimately settled on the cello, beginning studies on that instrument with Bernhard Cossmann from age 15 to age 18. He then attended the Stuttgart Conservatory. After studying cello, music theory and composition under Max Seifritz, Herbert graduated with a diploma in 1879.

Early career and the move to the U.S.

Even before studying with Cossmann, Herbert was engaged professionally as a player in concerts in Stuttgart. His first orchestra position was as a flute and piccolo player, but he soon turned solely to the cello. By the time he was 19, Herbert had received engagements as a soloist with several major German orchestras.

Initial musical life in New York City

thumb|upright|[[Anton Seidl, Herbert's mentor and friend]]

Seidl became an important mentor to Herbert and took a particular interest in fostering Herbert's skills as a conductor. Upon arriving in New York, Herbert and Förster became active members of New York's German music community, socializing and networking at cafes such as Luchow's. At these cafes, Herbert handed out business cards saying, "solo cellist from the Royal Orchestra of his Majesty, the King of Württemberg. Instructor in cello, vocal music and harmony." Herbert hoped to pick up extra income teaching, since he was earning only $40 to $50 a week as a cellist in the Met's orchestra.

Meanwhile, in her first season at the Met, 1886–87, Förster sang several roles in German, including the title role of the Queen of Sheba in Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba, Elsa in Lohengrin, Irene in Wagner's Rienzi, the title role in the Met premiere of Verdi's Aida and Elizabeth in Tannhäuser. She earned praise from critics and audiences alike and was featured on the cover of the Musical Courier, a major music magazine of the day. The next season, she repeated the role of Elsa but then left the Met and then sang with the German-language Thalia Theatre, again earning good reviews. Although she sang for several more years, her career did not progress.

Herbert quickly became prominent in New York City's musical scene, making his first American solo appearance on the cello in a performance of his own Suite for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 3, with Walter Damrosch conducting the Symphony Society of New York at the Metropolitan Opera House on January 8, 1887. The New York Herald said of the event, "[Herbert's] style is infinitely more easy and graceful than that of most cello players".

thumb|left|1896 sketch from [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]

During the Summer of 1888, Herbert became Seidl's assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic's ten-week summer concert seasons on the Boardwalk at Brighton Beach, a prestigious post. Seidl's concert seasons made Brighton Beach an important New York musical venue each summer. In 1891, Herbert premiered an ambitious cantata, The Captive, for solo voices, chorus and full orchestra. His Irish Rhapsody (1892), written for the Gaelic Society of New York enjoyed a brief but intense period of popularity. Beginning in 1894, when he began composing operettas, Herbert's band marches were sometimes derived from material from the operettas. Throughout his career, Herbert was well liked by orchestra players for his modesty and unpretentiousness. Herbert continued to compose orchestral music, writing one of his finest works, the Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 30, which premiered in 1894.

Activist for the legal rights of composers

In the early years of the twentieth century, Herbert championed the right of composers to profit from their works. In 1909, he testified before the United States Congress, influencing the formation and development of the Copyright Act of 1909. This law helped to secure the rights of composers to charge royalties on the sales of sound recordings. becoming its vice-president and director until his death in 1924. The organization has historically worked to protect the rights of songwriters and music publishers and continues to do this work today. In 1917, Herbert won a landmark lawsuit before the United States Supreme Court that gave composers, through ASCAP, a right to charge performance fees for the public performance of their music. ASCAP commissioned a bust in Herbert's honor in New York City's Central Park, erected in 1927.

Operetta, opera and musical theatre

left|thumb|Sheet music for the title song from Sweethearts

In 1894 Herbert composed his first operetta, Prince Ananias, for a popular troupe known as The Bostonians. The piece was well received, and Herbert soon composed three more operettas for Broadway, The Wizard of the Nile (1895), The Serenade (1897), which enjoyed international success, and The Fortune Teller (1898), starring Alice Nielsen. Although these achieved popularity, Herbert did not produce any more stage works for several years, focusing on his work with the Pittsburgh Symphony until 1904. Just before leaving that orchestra, he returned to Broadway with his first major hit, Babes in Toyland (1903). Two more successes followed, Mlle. Modiste (1905) and The Red Mill (1906), which solidified Herbert as one of the best-known American composers. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1908.

Although Herbert's reputation lies with his operettas, he also composed two grand operas. He searched for several years for a libretto that appealed to him, finally finding one by Joseph D. Redding called Natoma that concerned a historical story set in California. He composed the work from 1909 to 1910, and it premiered in Philadelphia on February 25, 1911, with soprano Mary Garden in the title role and the young Irish tenor John McCormack in his American operatic debut. The opera was repeated as part of the company's repertory during the next three seasons. It also enjoyed performances in New York City, making its debut there on February 28, 1911. Herbert's other opera, Madeleine, was a much lighter work in one act. On January 24, 1914, it had its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, but it was not revived beyond that season.

During this period, Herbert continued to compose operettas, producing two of his most successful works, Naughty Marietta (1910) and Sweethearts (1913). He also became progressively more involved with Irish-American organizations: in 1908 he joined the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick (becoming president in 1916), the oldest Irish association in New York, and in 1911 he became a member of the American Irish Historical Society. an English language version of what would later be adopted as the Irish national anthem; it was widely performed in the US from early 1917.

Herbert summered at Lake Placid, New York. In 1918, he played the cello there (the first time after retiring 20 years earlier) in a benefit concert for the Red Cross.

Death and legacy

A healthy man throughout his life, Herbert died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 65 on May 26, 1924, shortly after his final show, The Dream Girl, began its pre-Broadway run in New Haven, Connecticut. He was survived by his wife and two children, Ella Victoria Herbert Bartlett and Clifford Victor Herbert. He was entombed in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.

Herbert and his music are celebrated in the 1939 film The Great Victor Herbert, where he was portrayed by Walter Connolly and which also featured Mary Martin. He was also portrayed by Paul Maxey in the 1946 film Till the Clouds Roll By. Many of Herbert's own works were made into films, and his music has been used in numerous films and television shows. In 1940 the U.S. Postal Service included Herbert in its Famous Americans series of stamps. A Chicago elementary school is named for him. During World War II the Liberty ship was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in his honor. Ireland's RTÉ Lyric FM's feature "Victor Herbert, Son of Dublin" was Silver Radio Winner at the 2019 New York Festivals International Radio Awards in the category best biographical documentary.

Works

Herbert was a prolific composer, producing two operas, one cantata, 43 operettas, incidental music to 10 stage productions, 31 compositions for orchestra, nine band compositions, nine cello compositions, five violin compositions with piano or orchestra, 22 piano compositions, one flute and clarinet duet with orchestra, numerous songs, including many for the Ziegfeld Follies, and other works, 12 choral compositions, and numerous orchestrations of works by other composers, among other compositions.

Operettas and other stage music

Besides those mentioned above, other Herbert operettas with particularly strong scores are Cyrano de Bergerac (1899), The Singing Girl (1899), The Enchantress (1911), The Madcap Duchess (1913), and The Only Girl (1914). Other shows that were popular include It Happened in Nordland (1904), Miss Dolly Dollars (1905), Dream City (1906), The Magic Knight (1906), Little Nemo (1908), The Lady of the Slipper (1912), The Princess Pat (1915) and My Golden Girl (1920). In addition to composing about 55 full scores for stage works, Herbert produced a considerable body of musical numbers for variety shows such as the Ziegfeld Follies and the sophisticated private entertainments for the Lambs theatrical club.

Herbert's early shows toured widely, usually including a Broadway run to further publicize the tour. As Broadway increasingly became essential to commercial theatrical success, Herbert designed his shows to appeal specifically to New York sensibilities. By the mid-20th century, revivals of Herbert's works were relatively rare. His shows were revived occasionally on Broadway until 1947, but not thereafter. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, the operettas began to be revived more frequently, albeit often with heavily rewritten librettos, by companies like the Light Opera of Manhattan and Ohio Light Opera, and revivals continue today.

Herbert's style

American musical theatre composers of the late nineteenth century tended to imitate either Viennese operetta or the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Many American theatre companies, such as The Bostonians, were established for the purpose of performing Gilbert and Sullivan's operas, such as H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado, and adaptations of Karl Millöcker's operettas, such as Der Bettelstudent, or Franz von Suppé's Boccaccio, all of which became popular in America. Herbert tailored his operettas to be performed by companies that performed these works.), while others were dismal failures (When Sweet Sixteen, written for Joe Weber, who pulled out of the production, which lasted only twelve performances on Broadway.).

Although Herbert had not been exposed to Gilbert and Sullivan before his arrival in the U.S. in 1886, their popularity led him to adopt some of their musical and dramatic sensibilities. An example of this is the quintet "Cleopatra's Wedding Day" from The Wizard of the Nile. One of his early successes, The Serenade, borrows many of its situations from Ruddigore, Iolanthe and The Pirates of Penzance. The work's librettist, Harry B. Smith, went on to steal more Gilbertian ideas for future operettas with Herbert, who often would complement these ideas with music reminiscent of Sullivan. The Singing Girl, co-written by Smith and Stanislaus Stange, recalls The Mikado, and includes the plot element of a law against kissing without a licence.

right|thumb|Sheet music from The Red Mill

Herbert tended to use a slightly larger orchestra than Sullivan did in his comic operas, mostly through use of more types of percussion and occasionally by adding a harp. He generally wrote his own orchestrations, which were admired by music critics and other composers. In revivals of his works, however, new orchestrations have substituted saxophones and brass for strings. For many years, the only recording available of a Herbert show using his original orchestrations was one of Naughty Marietta, produced by the Smithsonian in 1981. Only recently have more recordings of his operettas appeared with the original orchestrations intact. These include Naughty Marietta, Mlle. Modiste, Eileen, Sweethearts and The Red Mill by Ohio Light Opera and The Fortune Teller by The Comic Opera Guild, which also has recorded numerous Herbert operettas live in concert with two-piano accompaniment.

Like Sullivan, Herbert also frequently evokes and imitates music from distant places in his operettas. He uses elements of Spanish music in The Serenade, Italian music in Naughty Marietta, Austrian music in The Singing Girl and Eastern music in The Wizard of the Nile, The Idol's Eye, The Tattooed Man and other works set in places like Egypt and India. The Fortune Teller includes an energetic Hungarian csárdás. He also frequently interpolated Irish-style songs into his operettas which, with the exception of those in Eileen, rarely advanced the plot.

By World War I, musical tastes were shifting in America, and Herbert was forced to compose in a simpler musical style. Many of his later works, such as The Velvet Lady and Angel Face (both 1919), imitated popular new song-types like the foxtrot, ragtime and the tango. Even in some of his earlier works, such as The Red Mill (1906), Herbert was already adopting elements that would later become associated with musical comedy in America. His collaboration on The Century Girl (1916) with Irving Berlin displayed this simpler style. Although these later shows introduced some memorable numbers, they did not enjoy the enduring popularity of his most popular operettas. The most successful work of his later career was Orange Blossoms (1921), which included the popular waltz song, "A Kiss in the Dark".

Operas

thumb|left|upright|[[Mary Garden in the title role of Natoma]]

Although his success had been in light music, like Sullivan, Herbert aspired to compose serious operas. Approached by Oscar Hammerstein I to write a grand opera, Herbert jumped at the chance. Hammerstein announced, in the April 13, 1907 issue of Musical America, a $1,000 prize for the best libretto submitted, fueling public enthusiasm and high expectations. Joseph Redding's libretto for Natoma, set in 1820s California, is a love story between an American naval officer and a Native American princess. The cast included such distinguished singers as John McCormack and Mary Garden, but the 1911 premiere in Philadelphia was only a moderate success. Critics praised the music, including its effective melodies and leitmotifs set off by orchestral counterpoint. They complained, however, about the libretto and the casting of foreign singers in what was supposed to be an "American opera".

Madeleine, his only other opera, is based on a French play and tells the equable little story of an operatic prima donna whose friends and acquaintances, one by one, decline her invitation to dine with her on New Years Day. The work is in one act and premiered in 1914 in a double bill with Enrico Caruso in the leading tenor role in Pagliacci. The opera featured Frances Alda in the title role. It failed to make an impression and received only six performances. Its conversational style is complemented by orchestral motivic commentary. Just before the work opened, Herbert added "A Perfect Day" at Alda's request. Although not a success, because of Herbert's popularity, G. Schirmer took the unprecedented step of publishing the work in full score. The concerto has been recorded by cellists such as Yo-Yo Ma (with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic), Lynn Harrell (with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields), Julian Lloyd Webber (with Sir Charles Mackerras and the London Symphony Orchestra), and an early rare recording by Bernard Greenhouse (with Max Schönherr and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra).

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More recently, two of Herbert's earlier compositions for cello and orchestra have regained a place in the concert repertory. The Suite for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 3 (1884), his earliest known composition despite its designation as Op. 3, has been performed by several ensembles in recent years. The work foreshadows the light music of Herbert's later compositions. Another work that has been revived is his Cello Concerto No. 1, which was first performed by the composer in Stuttgart shortly before he came to the U.S. For many years, the work was unpublished and apparently unperformed, surviving only in manuscript. It was recorded for the first time in 1986 and has since been published. The composition is admired for achieving an effective balance between its virtuosic elements and its lyricism.

Herbert also composed a considerable body of smaller-scale works, often writing music for his own performance on the cello or producing individual songs for the Victor Herbert Orchestra. He published some of his dance music compositions under the pseudonym Noble MacClure. During the last decade of his life, he composed a number of overtures for feature films, although The Fall of a Nation was his only complete film score. Herbert's contribution for the evening, A Suite of Serenades, was his last work to premiere with him in attendance.

Recordings

thumb|upright|Bust of Victor Herbert by [[Edmond T. Quinn in Central Park, New York City]]

The following is a list of some of the best-known recordings of Herbert's music.

The Music of Victor Herbert, Album C-1, conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret, Victor, 1927
The Music of Victor Herbert, Album C-11, Victor Salon Group and Orchestra, conducted by Shilkret, RCA Victor, 1930
The Music of Victor Herbert, C-33, RCA Victor, conducted by Shilkret with soloists, including Jan Peerce, chorus, and orchestra, RCA Victor, 1939; this was recorded immediately after The Magic Key of RCA radio broadcast of the same music.
The Music of Victor Herbert, recorded by Beverly Sills, soprano, and Andre Kostelanetz, conducting, on Angel records SFO-37160 (1976) (Grammy Award winner)
Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor op. 30, recorded by Julian Lloyd Webber, with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras on EMI Classics 747 622–2
Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor op. 30, recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur on Sony Classical 88697 56112 2
Cello Concertos recorded by Lynn Harrell, with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner on Decca 417 672–2
Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor op. 30, performed by Georges Miquelle and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra (i.e. the Orchestra of the Eastman School of Music), conducted by Howard Hanson, recorded for Mercury Records in October 1957, re-issued on CD in 1995, coupled with the Grand Canyon Suite and Mississippi Suite by Ferde Grofe. (Mercury Living Presence CD 434 355–2).
Victor Herbert Eileen: Romantic Comic Opera in Three Acts (1998) Ohio Light Opera, James Stewart, Artistic Director; Newport Classic (NPD 85615/2)
Victor Herbert: Beloved Songs and Classic Miniatures (1999) recorded by Virginia Croskery, soprano, and Keith Brion conducting the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, on the Naxos CD 8.559.26
The Red Mill: Romantic Opera in Two Acts by Victor Herbert (2001) Ohio Light Opera; L. Lynn Thompson, Conductor; Steven Daigle, Artistic Director; Albany Records (Troy 492/493).
Stereo recordings of four Herbert operettas were made by Reader's Digest for their 1963 album Treasury of Great Operettas. Each of the operettas in the set is condensed to fill one LP side. The four operettas in this set are Babes in Toyland, Mlle. Modiste, The Red Mill and Naughty Marietta. The Naughty Marietta selections have been re-released on CD.
Hero and Leander; Grofé: Grand Canyon Suite, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lorin Maazel. (1994) Sony SK52491
Columbus Suite / Irish Rhapsody, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Keith Brion (2000) Naxos 8.559027
Victor Herbert: The Collection, Victor Herbert And His Orchestra (2007) Syracuse University Recordings, SUR 1018. These are remastered transfers from Herbert's 1909–11 Edison cylinders.

Bibliography

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Victor Herbert. A bibliography of his recordings, compositions, operettas, instrumental, choral and other works. New York, 1959.

References

;Notes

;Sources

Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Bordman, Gerald. American Musical Theatre: a Chronicle (New York, 1978; 2nd Ed 1986)
Crouse, Russel. The Great Victor Herbert. Hollywood, 1939.
Debus, Allen G. "The Early Victor Herbert", Music of Victor Herbert, Smithsonian Collection DMP30366 (1979; disc notes)
Forbes, Douglas L. Some Serious Compositions of Victor Herbert. A study in musical style. 1957. (Dissertation)
Ganzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 Volumes). New York: Schirmer Books 2001
Hamm, C. Yesterdays: Popular Song in America (New York, 1979)
Ledbetter, Steven. Herbert, Victor (August), Phonoarchive.org at Grove
Schmalz, R. F. "Paur and the Pittsburgh: Requiem for an Orchestra", American Music, xii/2 (1994), pp. 125–47
Shirley, W. "A Bugle Call to Arms for National Defense! Victor Herbert and his Score for The Fall of a Nation", Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, xl (1983), pp. 26–47
Smith, H. B. First Nights and First Editions (Boston, 1931)
Studwell W. E. "Foreigners and Patriots: the American Musical, 1890–1927: an Essay and Bibliography", Music Reference Services Quarterly, iii/1 (1994–95), pp. 1–10
Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1983
(reprinted in 1978 by Da Capo Press)
Wood, Ean (1996). George Gershwin: His Life and Music. Sanctuary Publishing.

External links

General

Victor Herbert at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Ed Glazier's Victor Herbert site. Contains extensive discography and information
Chronological description of Herbert's compositions by genre
Edwardian light opera site, containing MIDI files, cast lists and other information for 30 Herbert works
Discography for Herbert's operas
Review and recommendations of Victor Herbert recordings
Listing of Herbert stage works with links
Victor Herbert recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

Photos, scores and libretti

Victor Herbert Collection at the Library of Congress
Photo of Herbert and wife at their wedding
Musical Manuscripts Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Links to several Victor Herbert piano-vocal scores
Vocal score for Hearts of Erin, book and lyrics by Henry Blossom (later re-titled as Eileen)
Sheet music for "The Only One", by Victor Herbert, lyrics by Glen MacDonough, M. Witmark & Sons, 1905.