Victor Herbert
February 1, 1859 — May 26, 1924 — Dublin, Ireland / New York, New York
Victor Herbert was an Irish-American composer, cellist, and conductor who became the reigning king of American operetta at the turn of the twentieth century — composing beloved works including Babes in Toyland, Naughty Marietta, and Sweethearts — and co-founded ASCAP to ensure that composers received royalties for their work.
From Dublin to American Music
Born in Dublin on February 1, 1859, Herbert was the grandson of Samuel Lover, the Irish novelist and songwriter. His father died when he was three, and his mother eventually took him to Stuttgart, where he received a classical German musical education, studying cello and music theory. He became a virtuoso cellist and played in the Stuttgart Court Orchestra. When his wife, soprano Therese Förster, was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1886, Herbert made the move to America and never looked back. He quickly established himself as a cellist and was appointed principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, then became conductor of the 22nd Regiment Band and later the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
The Operettas
In the 1890s Herbert began writing operettas for the Broadway stage, and the result was a string of successes unmatched in American theater at the time. Babes in Toyland (1903) — starring the comedians Montgomery and Stone and featuring "March of the Toys" — ran for 192 performances and became a perennial classic, later adapted multiple times for film. Mademoiselle Modiste (1905) introduced "Kiss Me Again," one of the most recorded songs of the early twentieth century. The Red Mill (1906), Naughty Marietta (1910, later filmed with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy), and Sweethearts (1913) cemented his dominant position in American musical theater. He composed more than forty operettas in all, and his melodic gifts were recognized as extraordinary even by European standards.
Did You Know?
Victor Herbert's co-founding of ASCAP in 1914 was triggered by a personal incident: he heard one of his compositions being performed at Shanley's Restaurant in New York and was furious that no royalty was being paid. He sued — and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor in 1917. That ruling established the legal basis for performance royalties in the United States and changed the economics of American music permanently. The organization he helped establish now distributes over a billion dollars in royalties annually.
Legacy
Victor Herbert died suddenly in New York on May 26, 1924, at sixty-five. He had composed film scores, orchestral works, and two grand operas in addition to his operettas, and was mourned as a uniquely prolific and gifted figure in American music. ASCAP, which he helped found, has protected American composers and songwriters ever since. His operettas, while rarely produced today in their full original form, contain melodies that have never entirely left the cultural memory — "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life" and "March of the Toys" remaining among the most recognizable tunes of the early American entertainment era.