Henry F. Gilbert: A Bio-Bibliography (review)

Abstract

Henry F. Gilbert: A Bio-Bibliography. By Sherrill V. Martin. (Bio-Bibliographies in Music, 93.) Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004. [xii, 296 p. ISBN 0-313-27445-2. $79.95.] Index, discography. During second decade of twentieth century, some writers on music considered Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert (1868-1928) America's foremost composer. Sherrill V. Martin has revealed in present bio-bibliography riches of MSS 35, Henry Gilbert Papers in Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University (see finding aid at http://webtext.library.yale.edu/xml2html/music/gil-col.htm [this and subsequent Web sites accessed 25 May 2005]) and has compiled sufficient information with commentary to help clarify, at chronological distance of many decades, how a composer now little known or performed attained such stature. This publication follows usual format for bio-bibliographies: a brief biography followed by citations with annotations of (1) a list of works and performances; (2) a discography; (3) a general bibliography; (4) a bibliography of subject's writings; (5) a bibliography of works and performances, i.e., mostly reviews and commentaries, and concluded by (6) appendices, and (7) an index. If Gilbert was not universally accepted in his day as successor to Edward A. MacDowell (1860-1908), whom some mentioned as foremost composer in America at turn of twentieth century, he was actually MacDowell's first composition student following elder composer's return from Europe in 1884. And within twenty years after this apprenticeship, Gilbert became generally known as foremost Americanist among composers. In second issue of Musical Quarterly (1, no. 2 [April 1915]: 169-80), Gilbert wrote an article, The American Composer, a manifesto of sorts in which he outlines state of music in America, aesthetic (i.e., pro-European) prejudices and economic difficulties facing composer, and some examples of successful enterprises (the annual festival of Litchfield County Choral Union at Norfolk, Connecticut; MacDowell Memorial Colony at Peterborough, New Hampshire; and High Jinks of San Francisco's Bohemian Club), along with suggestions about appropriate incorporation of folk music (namely, Indian and Negro tunes and rhythms, Spanish-American tunes, and even familiar Foster songs, pp. 178-79). He was hopeful that new paths would be followed, and he saw here and there a gleam of something big and vital (p. 179). This was in 1915. This message resonated with certain critics, above all Olin Downes (1886-1955), who wrote for Boston Post from 1906-1924 and New York Times from 1924 until his death. As a reviewer and commentator, Downes was very influential. He wrote an article for Musical Quarterly, entitled An American (4, no. 1 [January 1918]: 23-36), in which, speaking of Gilbert, he declared: The performance of 'Comedy Overture' appears to me as a more significant event than performance of any other American composition which it has been my fortune to know (p. 36). (Gilbert said in a letter of 1924 that he considered this article best written about him; see of Gilbert's Writings in present bio-bibliography, citation BG137.) Martin cites this and other articles, letters, and reviews by Downes throughout (see especially annotations in citations B95-B117 in General Bibliography section for consistently laudatory quotes). Gilbert's relationships with other contemporaries as well can easily be traced through index (pp. 289-96). Composer Arthur Farwell (1872-1952), for example, included a number of Gilbert's works in his comparatively short-lived serial publication known as Wa Wan Press (quarterly, 1901-06; monthly, 1907-11). two became close associates in 1902. As early as 1907, Farwell observed eloquently, the value for America of Mr. Gilbert's work up to a comparatively recent time lies in its power to liberate us from convention of musical expression which we have come to regard as fixed and final, and to show us new modes, both logical and beautiful, of tonal utterance (see citation B145). …