Henry F. Gilbert

Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert (September 26, 1868 – May 19, 1928) was an American

around the turn of the 20th century.

Gilbert was born in

.

Gilbert's interest in folk music had led him to the music of African Americans, and it was through using black folk tunes that he gained his first major success with 1910's Comedy Overture on Negro Themes for orchestra. This was followed by the Negro Rhapsody, also for orchestra. Other subsequent pieces were based upon the music of American Indians and Creoles.^[2] Among his less popular works are Three American Dances, Two Episodes, and Riders to the Sea. Gilbert provided music for the 1922 film Down to the Sea in Ships. Though he'd originally intended to compose an entirely new score, his friend Joseph Carl Breil convinced him that's he'd be better off writing very little original music and then compiling the rest from existing works.

His greatest success was

.

Although Gilbert's music was generally well-regarded during his lifetime, his reputation has declined since his death; today, his music is little played.

References

• David Ewen, Encyclopedia of Concert Music. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.
• Katherine E. Longyear, "Henry F. Gilbert, His Life and Works," Ph.D. dissertation, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, 1968. (UMI AAT 6812647)
• Katherine E. Longyear, "Henry F. Gilbert", in H. Wiley and Standforth (eds.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music. London; MacMillan, 1986.
• Alyn Shipton, A New History of Jazz. London; Continuum, 2001.

Further reading

• Crane, Frank; Wheeler, Edward Jewitt (1916). "An American Composer's Triumph in Russia". Current Opinion.

External links

• Free scores by Henry Gilbert at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• The Henry Gilbert Papers at Yale University Music Library