Henry F. Gilbert

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Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert (September 26, 1868-May 19, 1928) was an American composer. He is best remembered today for his interest in the music of American blacks.

Gilbert was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, and attended the New England Conservatory; among his teachers were Edward MacDowell, for composition, and Emil Mollenhauer, for violin. Upon graduation, Gilbert embarked upon a career in business. However, in 1900 he attended a performance of Gustave Charpentier's opera Louise which sent him back to working with music. He soon became interested in American folk and popular music, and in 1905 completed Americanesque, an orchestral suite based on three tunes from minstrel shows.

Gilbert's interest in folk music led him to the music of American blacks, and it was through using black folk tunes that he gained his first 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. Among his less popular works are Three American Dances, Two Episodes, and the "sumphonic prologue" Riders to the Sea.

Gilbert composed the original music for the 1922 film Down to the Sea in Ships.

Gilbert achieved his greatest success with The Dance in Place Congo, a programmatic work based upon black themes. It was given to acclaim at the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Frankfurt-am-Main on July 1, 1927, with the composer in attendance. But he was already an invalid, and died, less than a year later, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Dance was given some years later as a ballet by the Metropolitan Opera.

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