Victor Herbert(1859-1924)
- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Every professional recording artist today owes their livelihood to some
degree to Victor Herbert. Working closely with John Philip Sousa,
Irving Berlin and others, he was the driving force in founding the
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) on
February 13, 1914. He became its vice-president and director until his
death in 1924. The organization has historically worked to protect the
rights of creative musicians 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. Herbert was born in
Dublin, Ireland to Protestants Edward Herbert (d. 1861) and Fanny
Herbert (née Lover). At age three and a half, shortly after the death
of his father, young Herbert and his mother moved to live with his
maternal grandparents in London, England, where he received
encouragement in his creative endeavours. His grandfather was the Irish
novelist, playwright, poet and composer Samuel Lover. The Lovers
welcomed a steady flow of musicians, writers and artists to their home.
Herbert joined his mother in Stuttgart, Germany in 1867, a year after
she had married a German physician, Carl Schmidt of Langenargen. In
Stuttgart, he received a strong liberal education at the
Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium, which included musical training. Herbert
had ambitions to become a physician himself, but medical education in
Germany was prohibitively expensive and he fell back on his first real
interest as a child, music. Initially studying the piano, flute and
piccolo, he ultimately settled on the cello, beginning studies on that
instrument with Bernhard Cossmann from age 15 to 18. Herbert then
attended the Stuttgart Conservatory. After studying cello, music theory
and composition under Max Seifritz, Herbert graduated with a diploma in
1879. He 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. He played in the orchestra of the wealthy Russian Baron
Paul von Derwies for a few years and, in 1880, was a soloist for a year
in the orchestra of Eduard Strauss in Vienna. Herbert joined the court
orchestra in Stuttgart in 1881, where he remained for the next five
years. There he composed his first pieces of instrumental music,
playing the solos in the premieres of his first two large-scale works,
the Suite for cello and orchestra, Op. 3 (1893) and the Cello Concerto
No. 1, Op. 8. In 1883, Herbert was selected by Johannes Brahms to play
in a chamber orchestra for the celebration of the life of Franz Liszt,
then 72 years old, near Zurich. In 1885 Herbert became romantically
involved with Therese Förster (1861-1927), a soprano who had recently
joined the court opera for which the court orchestra played. Förster
sang several leading roles at the Stuttgart Opera in 1885 through the
summer of 1886. After a year of courtship, the couple married on August
14, 1886. On October 24, 1886, they moved to the United States, as they
both had been hired by Walter Damrosch and Anton Seidl to join the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Herbert was engaged as the opera
orchestra's principal cellist, and Förster was engaged to sing
principal roles with the Met. During the voyage to America, Herbert and
his wife became friends with their fellow passenger and future
conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Anton Seidl, and other singers
joining the Met.
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. Some of his best-known works were created for Broadway
working with the even more prolific librettist Harry B. Smith. Many of
his Broadway productions, such as The Red Mill (1906), Sweethearts
(1913), Sally (1920) and Orange Blossoms (1921) were major hits, while
others, such as When Sweet Sixteen (1911) were financial disasters.
Herbert also composed
The Fall of a Nation (1916),
one of the first original orchestral scores for a full-length film (a
credit often erroneously given to Max Steiner while working for Radio
Pictures in the 1930's). The score was thought to be lost, but it
turned up in the film-music collection of the Library of Congress. It
was given a recording in 1987. During the last years of his career, was
frequently asked to compose ballet music for the elaborate production
numbers in Broadway revues and the shows of Irving Berlin and Jerome
Kern, among others. Throughout his career he was regarded as extremely
unpretentious and supportive of his peers. He was also a contributor to
the Ziegfeld Follies every year from 1917 to 1924 (see 'Other Works').
As a composer, Herbert is chiefly remembered for his operettas. Of his
instrumental works, only a few remained consistently within the concert
repertoire after Herbert's death in 1924. However, some of his
forgotten works have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity within the last
few decades. A statue of him commissioned by ASCAP, by sculptor Edmund
Thomas Quinn (1868-1929) was dedicated in 1927 still stands in New York
City's Central Park.
degree to Victor Herbert. Working closely with John Philip Sousa,
Irving Berlin and others, he was the driving force in founding the
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) on
February 13, 1914. He became its vice-president and director until his
death in 1924. The organization has historically worked to protect the
rights of creative musicians 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. Herbert was born in
Dublin, Ireland to Protestants Edward Herbert (d. 1861) and Fanny
Herbert (née Lover). At age three and a half, shortly after the death
of his father, young Herbert and his mother moved to live with his
maternal grandparents in London, England, where he received
encouragement in his creative endeavours. His grandfather was the Irish
novelist, playwright, poet and composer Samuel Lover. The Lovers
welcomed a steady flow of musicians, writers and artists to their home.
Herbert joined his mother in Stuttgart, Germany in 1867, a year after
she had married a German physician, Carl Schmidt of Langenargen. In
Stuttgart, he received a strong liberal education at the
Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium, which included musical training. Herbert
had ambitions to become a physician himself, but medical education in
Germany was prohibitively expensive and he fell back on his first real
interest as a child, music. Initially studying the piano, flute and
piccolo, he ultimately settled on the cello, beginning studies on that
instrument with Bernhard Cossmann from age 15 to 18. Herbert then
attended the Stuttgart Conservatory. After studying cello, music theory
and composition under Max Seifritz, Herbert graduated with a diploma in
1879. He 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. He played in the orchestra of the wealthy Russian Baron
Paul von Derwies for a few years and, in 1880, was a soloist for a year
in the orchestra of Eduard Strauss in Vienna. Herbert joined the court
orchestra in Stuttgart in 1881, where he remained for the next five
years. There he composed his first pieces of instrumental music,
playing the solos in the premieres of his first two large-scale works,
the Suite for cello and orchestra, Op. 3 (1893) and the Cello Concerto
No. 1, Op. 8. In 1883, Herbert was selected by Johannes Brahms to play
in a chamber orchestra for the celebration of the life of Franz Liszt,
then 72 years old, near Zurich. In 1885 Herbert became romantically
involved with Therese Förster (1861-1927), a soprano who had recently
joined the court opera for which the court orchestra played. Förster
sang several leading roles at the Stuttgart Opera in 1885 through the
summer of 1886. After a year of courtship, the couple married on August
14, 1886. On October 24, 1886, they moved to the United States, as they
both had been hired by Walter Damrosch and Anton Seidl to join the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Herbert was engaged as the opera
orchestra's principal cellist, and Förster was engaged to sing
principal roles with the Met. During the voyage to America, Herbert and
his wife became friends with their fellow passenger and future
conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Anton Seidl, and other singers
joining the Met.
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. Some of his best-known works were created for Broadway
working with the even more prolific librettist Harry B. Smith. Many of
his Broadway productions, such as The Red Mill (1906), Sweethearts
(1913), Sally (1920) and Orange Blossoms (1921) were major hits, while
others, such as When Sweet Sixteen (1911) were financial disasters.
Herbert also composed
The Fall of a Nation (1916),
one of the first original orchestral scores for a full-length film (a
credit often erroneously given to Max Steiner while working for Radio
Pictures in the 1930's). The score was thought to be lost, but it
turned up in the film-music collection of the Library of Congress. It
was given a recording in 1987. During the last years of his career, was
frequently asked to compose ballet music for the elaborate production
numbers in Broadway revues and the shows of Irving Berlin and Jerome
Kern, among others. Throughout his career he was regarded as extremely
unpretentious and supportive of his peers. He was also a contributor to
the Ziegfeld Follies every year from 1917 to 1924 (see 'Other Works').
As a composer, Herbert is chiefly remembered for his operettas. Of his
instrumental works, only a few remained consistently within the concert
repertoire after Herbert's death in 1924. However, some of his
forgotten works have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity within the last
few decades. A statue of him commissioned by ASCAP, by sculptor Edmund
Thomas Quinn (1868-1929) was dedicated in 1927 still stands in New York
City's Central Park.