Gustave Adolph Kerker, sometimes given as Gustav or Gustavus Kerker, (February 28, 1857 – June 29, 1923) was a

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

-born composer and conductor who spent most of his life in the United States. He became a musical director for

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

productions and wrote the music for a series of

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s and

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

produced on Broadway and in the West End. His most famous musical was '' The Belle of New York'' (1897).

Life and career

Kerker was born in

Herford Herford (; ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is situated in the cultural region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) and the Detmold (administrat ...

, and began to study the cello at the age of seven. His family emigrated to the U.S. in 1867, settling in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. Kerker played in pit orchestras at local theatres and then began to conduct. His early

, ''Cadets'', toured the South in 1879. Kerker then moved to New York City, where he was engaged as the principal conductor at the Casino Theatre. There, he began to add his own songs into the scores of foreign

s, notably

Charles Lecocq Alexandre Charles Lecocq (; 3 June 183224 October 1918) was a French composer, known for his opérettes and opéra comique, opéras comiques. He became the most prominent successor to Jacques Offenbach in this sphere, and enjoyed considerable su ...

's ''The Pearl of Pekin'', since these works had no effective copyright in the U.S. Kerker's first complete

in New York was ''Castles in the Air'' in 1890. He wrote over 20 shows, the most successful of which were the London musical burlesque '' Little Christopher Columbus'' (1893), and the international musical hit '' The Belle of New York'' (1897). Other notable musicals included ''An American Beauty'' (1896), ''The Girl from Up There'' (1901), ''Winsome Winnie'' (1903), ''The Tourists'' (1906), '' The White Hen'' (1907), and ''Fascinating Flora'' (1907) to a book by R. H. Burnside and Joseph W. Herbert. In 1909, he was asked to leave Germany by authorities for having failed to perform military service in his youth. He was one of the nine founding members of

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

in 1914. Kerker was married twice: first to Rose Keene whose stage name was Rose Leighton (married 1884) and second to Mattie B. Rivenberg (June 5, 1908), a show girl in the musical ''Nearly a Hero'' who was 30 years his junior. There are no children listed on the 1920 census. Kerker died following an "attack of

apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...

" at his home on 565 West 169th Street in New York City at the age of 66.

Theater credits

* 1879 - ''The Cadets'' * 1888 - ''Pearl of Pekin'' (libretto by Charles Alfred Byrne) * 1890 - ''Castles in the Air'' (libretto by Byrne) * 1893 - '' Little Christopher Columbus'', with

Ivan Caryll Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later N ...

, libretto by

George Robert Sims George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and ''bon vivant''. Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for ''Fun'' magazine and '' The Referee'', but he was soon ...

and Cecil Raleigh * 1894 - ''Prince Kam or A Trip to Venus'' (libretto by Byrne and Louis Harrison) * 1895 - ''Kismet or Two Tangled Turks'' (libretto by Richard F. Carroll) * 1896 **''

In Gay New York ''In Gay New York'' is a musical revue with a script by C. M. S. McLellan, under his pseudonym Hugh Morton, and music by Gustave Kerker. The story revolves around two newlyweds from Maine who come to New York City, do some sightseeing, and see b ...

'' (musical

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

; libretto by Hugh Morton **''

The Lady Slavey ''The Lady Slavey'' was an 1894 operetta in two acts with a score by John Crook (with contributions by Henry Wood and Letty Lind, among others), to a libretto by George Dance (with additional lyrics by Adrian Ross, among others) which opened at ...

'' (libretto by George Dance; lyrics by Morton) **''An American Beauty'' (libretto by Morton) * 1897 **''The Whirl of the Town'' (musical revue; libretto by Morton) **'' The Belle of New York'' (libretto by Morton) *1898 **''My Estelle'' (libretto by Morton) **''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (libretto by Morton) **''The Telephone Girl'' (libretto by Morton) *1899 – ''

The Man in the Moon In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar m ...

'' (with

Ludwig Engländer Ludwig Engländer (October 20, 1853 Vienna, Austrian Empire – September 13, 1914) was an Austrian Empire-born American composer of more than 30 musicals. He was born in Vienna, Austrian Empire.Passport application available in the series ''U.S ...

and

Reginald De Koven Henry Louis Reginald De Koven (April 3, 1859January 16, 1920) was an American music critic and prolific composer, particularly of comic operas. Biography De Koven was born in Middletown, Connecticut, and moved to Europe in 1870, where he receive ...

) *1901 - ''

The Girl from Up There ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

'' (libretto by Morton) *1902 - ''

The Billionaire ''The Billionaire'', also known as ''Top Secret: Wai Roon Pan Lan'' (, ), is a 2011 Thai biographical drama film produced by Nadao Bangkok and released by GTH. It was directed by Songyos Sugmakanan, and stars Pachara Chirathivat, Somboonsuk N ...

'' (libretto by Harry B. Smith) *1903 **"The Lobster Song (I Was Walking 'Round the Ocean)" in ''

The Wizard of Oz ''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left pro ...

'' (libretto by Morton) **''Winsome Winnie'' (contributor; libretto by

Edward Jakobowski Edward Jakobowski (17 April 1856 – 29 April 1929) was an English composer, especially of musical theatre, best known for writing the hit comic opera '' Erminie''. Life and career Jakobowski was born in Islington, London, the only son of Israe ...

; most of the music by Harry Paulton) *1904 **''Burning to Sing, or Singing to Burn. A 'Very' Grand Opera'' (libretto by R. H. Burnside) *1906 **''The Social Whirl'' (libretto by Charles Doty and Joseph W. Herbert; lyrics by Herbert) **''The Tourists'' (libretto by R. H. Burnside) *1907 **'' The White Hen'' (libretto by Roderic C. Penfield; lyrics by Penfield and Paul West) **''Fascinating Flora'' (libretto by Burnside and Herbert) *1909 **''Die oberen Zehntausend'' (libretto by Julius Freund) *1912 – ''

Two Little Brides 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many ...

'' (libretto by Arthur Anderson and

Harold Atteridge Harold Richard Atteridge (July 9, 1886 – January 15, 1938) was an American composer, librettist and lyricist primarily for musicals and revues. He wrote the book and lyrics for over 20 musicals and revues for the Shubert family, including sever ...

) *1921 – '' The Whirl of New York'', based on ''The Belle of New York'' (libretto by Morton and Edgar Smith.

Notes

References

Profile of Kerker from Answers.com (source: American Theatre Guide)

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerker, Gustave 1857 births 1923 deaths German composers People from Herford Prussian emigrants to the United States 19th-century German musicians