Victor Herbert

Composer

• Born: February 1, 1859
• Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland
• Died: May 26, 1924
• Place of death: New York, New York

American cellist, popular music and musical-theater composer

Herbert composed more than forty operettas, two operas, and many instrumental and vocal works. Although best remembered for his stage productions, Herbert was an accomplished cello soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and advocate for musicians’ rights.

The Life

Victor August Herbert was born February 1, 1859, in Dublin Ireland, to Fannie Lover and Edward Herbert. His father died, in circumstances that are unclear, when Herbert was a child. Upon his father’s death, Herbert moved with his mother to the home of his maternal grandfather, the poet, painter, and novelist Samuel Lover. After a short courtship, Fannie married Wilhelm Schmid, a German doctor she had met in London. The family moved to Stuttgart, Germany, in the spring of 1866.

As a child, Herbert played piano, flute, and piccolo. Later he decided to pursue the cello and to seek a career in music, studying cello with Bernhard Cossman at the Stuttgart Gymnasium from 1874 to 1876. He then left Stuttgart, touring Europe in several orchestras. In 1879 Herbert joined the orchestra of a Russian baron. After one season with the court orchestra, he moved to Vienna and joined the orchestra of Eduard Strauss, brother of the “waltz king,” Johann Strauss.

Herbert returned to Stuttgart, and he joined the Court Orchestra of Stuttgart in 1881. Believing he had focused on performance to the detriment of his musical understanding, Herbert enrolled in the Stuttgart Conservatory, where he studied composition with Max Seifriz. Herbert’s first appearance as soloist with the Court Orchestra came in 1881. In 1883 he performed his own Suite for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 3, with the orchestra, and in 1885 he played the premiere of his first (unpublished) cello concerto.

In 1885 Herbert met Therese Forester, the Viennese soprano. He was infatuated with her, establishing a musical relationship (he volunteered to serve as her accompanist) and later a romantic one. In 1886 Forester was offered a position in the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City, and Herbert was hired to play cello in the orchestra. The two were married in Vienna on August 14, 1886, just prior to sailing for the United States.

In 1889 Herbert joined the faculty of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. His career took an unexpected turn in 1893, when he became director of the Twenty-second Regiment Band. The band had been made famous by its founder, Patrick Gilmore, and it had struggled after his death in 1892. Despite public fears to the contrary, Herbert remained an active cello soloist while focusing on composing and conducting. In 1898 Herbert became the conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, a post he retained until 1904. In that year, Herbert returned to New York to form the Victor Herbert Orchestra.

Herbert was one of the founding members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and he served as its vice president and director from 1914 until 1924. In 1917 Herbert was involved in a suit resulting in a Supreme Court ruling that granted composers and other copyright owners the rights to receive royalties from public performances.

In his later years, Herbert was best known as a songwriter and composer of music for the stage. He composed operas, operettas, incidental music, and the score to the 1916 film Fall of a Nation, the sequel to D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915). Herbert’s score is one of the earliest full-length orchestral film scores in existence. Herbert was working on music for the Ziegfeld Follies and negotiating the composition of music for a motion picture when he died of a heart attack in his doctor’s office on May 26, 1924.

The Music

Herbert began his compositional career writing instrumental music, a path not surprising considering his early renown as an instrumentalist. After moving to the United States, however, Herbert became best known for his vocal works for the stage. Herbert was well regarded for his sensitive orchestration and for his ability to write for the voice. While he excelled in these aspects of composition, he was often hindered by the weakness of the librettos chosen for his works. Herbert’s musical stage productions represented the end of an era, as radio, jazz, and motion pictures became prominent forces in American musical culture near the end of his life.

Suite for Cello and Orchestra.Herbert’s earliest known large-scale composition, this suite was first performed by the composer in October of 1883, as part of the Stuttgart Orchestra’s subscription series. The serenade from this work achieved considerable popularity as an independent concert piece, and the work did much to establish Herbert as both a composer and a performer.

Prince Ananias.Herbert’s first extant operetta (an earlier work was never performed and is now lost) premiered in New York in November of 1894. In a pattern that would continue throughout his career, critics praised Herbert’s music while condemning the libretto. Prince Ananias is an operetta in two acts, set in France in the sixteenth century. It was originally performed by the Bostonians, a well-regarded touring company.

Babes in Toyland.Early in 1903, producers Fred Hamlin and Julian Mitchell had great success with the musical The Wizard of Oz. While the text of The Wizard of Oz was highly acclaimed, the music was lacking. Hamlin and Mitchell believed a similar production with better music would eclipse even the great success of The Wizard of Oz, and they approached Herbert to compose the music for Babes in Toyland. The libretto, written by Glen MacDonough, was largely a vehicle for spectacular scenery and effects. Consisting of a prologue and three acts, Babes in Toyland tells the story of orphaned siblings Alan and Jane and their attempts to escape their malevolent Uncle Barnaby. Babes in Toyland opened in New York on October 13, 1903, and it ran for 192 performances. It has since been revived and adapted many times, and it remains a popular Christmas spectacle.

Natoma.Herbert’s first attempt at full-scale opera, Natoma, was born of a collaboration among Herbert, impresario Oscar Hammerstein, and librettist Joseph Redding. Hammerstein approached Herbert in 1907 to compose an opera, offering to pay one thousand dollars for a suitable American libretto. In 1909 Herbert entered into a contract with Redding, a lawyer, playwright, and accomplished composer in his own right, to produce Natoma, an opera set in California in the early nineteenth century.

Natoma finally premiered in Philadelphia on February 25, 1911, with Mary Garden singing the title role, and it was staged in New York at the Metropolitan Opera three days later. The critical response to Natoma was harsh, and, as for many of Herbert’s productions, it was focused on the weakness of the libretto. Though Redding’s text was nearly universally derided, Herbert’s music was well received. Herbert’s musical structure was heavily influenced by German Romantic opera (Herbert was an ardent supporter of Richard Wagner), and it incorporated elements designed to imply Native American and Spanish music, although Herbert admitted that he did not use authentic Native American or Spanish melodies in the score. Although Natoma was neither a critical nor a box office success, the anticipation and critical interest generated by the production did much to further public and critical interest in American opera.

The Fall of a Nation.This sequel to the landmark 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was released in 1916. Unlike The Birth of a Nation, which had been directed by D. W. Griffith, The Fall of a Nation was written and directed by Thomas Dixon, who had written both books. Prior to this film, it was standard practice to accompany motion pictures with familiar pieces from the standard art music repertory. Herbert, however, announced that he would create the first thoroughly original American film score. Herbert composed more than two hours of music for The Fall of a Nation, though he was forced to make significant cuts because of extensive editing of the film.

Like many of the projects Herbert chose, The Fall of a Nation suffered from an inferior text. Herbert’s score was generally admired, but the film was not. It ran for less than two months in New York, and its nationwide release was hampered by the inability of many local theaters to assemble orchestras capable of performing Herbert’s score. The Fall of a Nation is now considered lost, although the extant pieces of Herbert’s score are housed at the Library of Congress, and a recording of fifteen selections from the score has been released.

Musical Legacy

Herbert lived to see many of his own compositions go out of style, and by the end of his career he considered himself a relic of a bygone era. Although he made an effort to adapt to changing popular tastes by writing music for motion pictures and the variety stage, America had largely moved away from the type of musical theater popularized by Herbert and others early in the century. By the 1920’s, popular musical tastes were also shifting toward jazz, an idiom to which Herbert was not accustomed.

Although Herbert did not establish an American school of opera, his celebrity generated enough publicity for and discussion of Natoma that, despite the opera’s lack of success, public and critical attention turned to the idea of American opera. Herbert was also responsible for the resurrection of Gilmore’s Band, and his association with the band advanced the wind band as an outlet for art music in America. Though the popularity of his instrumental music was short-lived, Herbert counted many prominent performers and conductors among his friends. Antonín Dvořák cited Herbert’s Second Cello Concerto as the inspiration for his own Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B Minor, Op. 104.

Principal Works

film score:Fall of a Nation, 1916.

musical theater (music): The Wizard of the Nile, 1895 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); The Serenade, 1897 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); The Fortune Teller, 1898 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); The Ameer, 1899 (lyrics and libretto by Kirke La Shelle and Frederic M. Ranken); Cyrano de Bergerac, 1899 (lyrics by Harry B. Smith; libretto by Stuart Reed); The Singing Girl, 1899 (lyrics by Harry B. Smith; libretto by Hugh Stanislaus Stange); The Viceroy, 1900 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); Babes in Toyland, 1903 (lyrics and libretto by Glen MacDonough); Babette, 1903 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); It Happened in Norland, 1904 (lyrics and libretto by MacDonough); Miss Dolly Dollars, 1905 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); Mlle. Modiste, 1905 (lyrics and libretto by Henry Blossom); Wonderland, 1905 (lyrics and libretto by MacDonough); Dream City, 1906 (lyrics and libretto by Edgar Smith); The Magic Knight, 1906 (lyrics and libretto by Edgar Smith); The Tattooed Man, 1907 (lyrics by Harry B. Smith; libretto by Harry B. Smith and A. N. C. Fowler); Algeria, 1908 (lyrics and libretto by MacDonough); Little Nemo, 1908 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); The Prima Donna, 1908 (lyrics and libretto by Blossom); Old Dutch, 1909 (lyrics by George V. Hobart; libretto by Edgar Smith); The Rose of Algeria, 1909 (lyrics and libretto by MacDonough); Naughty Marietta, 1910 (lyrics and libretto by Rida Johnson Young); The Duchess, 1911 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith and Joseph Herbert); The Enchantress, 1911 (lyrics by Harry B. Smith; libretto by Harry B. Smith and Fred De Gresac); When Sweet Sixteen, 1911 (lyrics and libretto by Hobart); The Lady of the Slipper, 1912 (lyrics by James O’Dea; libretto by Anne Caldwell and Lawrence McCarty); The Madcap Duchess, 1913 (lyrics and libretto by David Stevens and Justin Huntly McCarthy); Sweethearts, 1913 (lyrics by Robert B. Smith; libretto by Harry B. Smith and De Gresac); The Debutante, 1914 (lyrics by Robert B. Smith; libretto by Robert B. Smith and Harry B. Smith); The Only Girl, 1914 (lyrics and libretto by Blossom); The Princess Pat, 1915 (lyrics and libretto by Blossom); The Century Girl, 1916 (music with Irving Berlin; lyrics by Berlin and Blossom; libretto by Sydney Rosenfeld); Eileen, 1917 (lyrics and libretto by Blossom); Her Regiment, 1917 (lyrics and libretto by William Le Baron); Miss 1917, 1917 (music with Jerome Kern; lyrics and libretto by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse); Angel Face, 1919 (lyrics by Robert B. Smith; libretto by Harry B. Smith); The Velvet Lady, 1919 (lyrics by Blossom; libretto by Fred Jackson); The Girl in the Spotlight, 1920 (lyrics and libretto by Richard Bruce); My Golden Girl, 1920 (lyrics and libretto by Frederic Arnold Kummer); Sally, 1920 (music with Kern; lyrics by Clifford Grey; libretto by Bolton); Orange Blossoms, 1922 (lyrics by B. G. DeSilva; libretto by De Gresac); The Dream Girl, 1924 (lyrics by Young; libretto by Young and Harold Atteridge); The Fortune Teller, 1929 (lyrics and libretto by Harry B. Smith); The Red Mill, 1945 (lyrics and libretto by Blossom); Gypsy Lady, 1946 (lyrics by George Forrester and Robert Wright; libretto by Henry Myers).

opera:Natoma, 1911 (libretto by Joseph D. Redding).

operetta (music): Prince Ananias, 1894 (libretto by Francis Neilson).

orchestral work:Suite for Cello and Orchestra, 1883.

Bibliography

Kaye, Joseph. Victor Herbert: The Biography of America’s Greatest Composer of Romantic Music. New York: G. H. Watt, 1931. This biography focuses on the sensational aspects of Herbert’s life and musical career. Written in a novel-like fashion, it is similar to the later motion picture The Great Victor Herbert (1939).

Purdy, Claire Lee. Victor Herbert, American Music-Master. New York: J. Messner, 1945. A biography suitable for juvenile readers and those unfamiliar with Herbert and his work.

Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Rev. ed. New York: Routledge, 2003. Contains a thorough biography of Herbert, including in-depth discussions of many of his operettas. This volume also addresses Herbert’s musical legacy and his posthumous success in new media such as film and radio.

Waters, Edward N. “American Musical History and Victor Herbert.” Notes 13, no. 1 (1955): 33-40. Waters, author of a definitive biography of Herbert, reflects on his research in this article. The article provides a concise biography of Herbert, and it discusses how a study of the career of a composer such as Herbert can contribute to a heightened understanding of American music and of music historiography.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Victor Herbert: A Life in Music. New York: Macmillan, 1955. A thorough and factually accurate Herbert biography, this contains more than five hundred pages of biographical information and musical discussion. It also lists all of Herbert’s known compositions and phonograph recordings, and it contains extensive notes on sources used for the book.