Herbert, Victor

Herbert, Victor (1859–1924), composer. The first great American creator of operetta, he was born in Dublin and studied music in Germany Afterwards he played cello in several major German orchestras. While there he met and married the prima donna Therese Foerster, and it was her signing to sing with the Metropolitan Opera that brought Herbert to New York, where he was a cellist with the Met. Shortly thereafter, Herbert accepted the post of director of the 22nd New York National Guard Band, and he started composing for the stage. Although the Bostonians mounted his Prince Ananias in 1894 and kept it in its repertory for several seasons, Herbert received little recognition until The Wizard of the Nile (1895) gave him his first success. The Gold Bug (1896), The Serenade (1897), and The Idol's Eye (1897) followed. His first great, enduring achievement was The Fortune Teller (1898), succeeded by Cyrano de Bergerac (1899), The Singing Girl (1899), The Ameer (1899), and The Viceroy (1900). He then briefly abandoned the stage to become conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, returning in 1903 with one of his best‐loved scores, Babes in Toyland. Also well received were It Happened in Nordland (1904), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906), and Naughty Marietta (1910), generally acknowledged to be his masterpiece. Herbert's later works include The Enchantress (1911), Sweethearts (1913), The Only Girl (1914), and The Princess Pat (1915). Herbert was to write just one more great score, for the Irish‐flavored Eileen (1917). His final operettas were The Velvet Lady (1919) and the posthumously produced The Dream Girl (1924). In all he composed scores for over forty musicals, including Babette (1903), Miss Dolly Dollars (1905), Wonderland (1905), The Tattooed Man (1907), Little Nemo (1908), The Prima Donna (1908), Old Dutch (1909), The Duchess (1911), The Madcap Duchess (1913), The Débutante (1914), The Century Girl (1916), Miss (1917), Her Regiment (1917), My Golden Girl (1920), and The Girl in the Spotlight (1920). Although Herbert in his lifetime made distinctions between what he considered his musical comedies and his operettas, his richly lyrical music today is perceived as almost wholly operetta‐ish. He sometimes claimed that he was writing in an American idiom, and his contemporaries often agreed with him, but, again, today his influences are seen largely as French and Middle European. He moved from thumping marches to lilting waltzes to sentimental ballads with grace and ease. Whatever his sources, he raised the artistic level of American theatrical music and for many years did so virtually alone. Herbert was also one of the organizers of the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP), which he was moved to found after hearing his music played in restaurants without his receiving any remuneration. Biography: Victor Herbert: A Life in Music, Edward Waters, 1955.