Jean Gilbert (11 February 1879 – 20 December 1942), born Max Winterfeld, was a German

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 ...

composer and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

Life and career

Gilbert was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

into a family of musicians; his ancestors were

cantors A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

of the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

community, his cousin

Paul Dessau Paul Dessau (19 December 189428 June 1979) was a German composer and conductor. He collaborated with Bertolt Brecht and composed incidental music for his plays, and several operas based on them. Biography Dessau was born in Hamburg into a m ...

became a famous composer and conductor. He attended composition lessons held by

Philipp Scharwenka Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka (16 February 1847, in Szamotuły, Grand Duchy of Posen – 16 July 1917, in Bad Nauheim) was a Polish-German composer and teacher of music. He was the older brother of Xaver Scharwenka. Early training Scharwenka was bor ...

in Berlin and studied at the conservatories in

Sondershausen Sondershausen () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km (30 mi) north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was merged with Sondershausen. Until 1918 i ...

and

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

. After first public appearances as a pianist, the 18-year-old obtained an appointment as ''

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

'' in Bremerhaven. Soon after he moved to the Carl Schultze Theater in Hamburg and, at the age of 20, succeeded

Leo Fall Leopold Fall (2 February 187316 September 1925) was an Austrian Kapellmeister and composer of operettas. Life Born in Olmütz (Olomouc), Leo (or Leopold) Fall was taught by his father Moritz Fall (1848–1922), a bandmaster and composer, who sett ...

as musical director of the theatre on Hamburg's

Reeperbahn The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also n ...

. He adopted the name of Jean Gilbert for the production of his first operetta ''Das Jungfernstift'' in 1901. He continued to work as a ''Kapellmeister'' at the Berlin on

Friedrichstraße Friedrichstraße, or Friedrichstrasse (see ß; ) (lit. ''Frederick Street''), is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße stat ...

, where he conducted operettas by

Paul Lincke Carl Emil Paul Lincke (7 November 1866 – 3 September 1946) was a German composer and theater conductor. He is considered the "father" of the Berlin operetta. His well-known compositions include "" ("Berlin Air"), the unofficial anthem of Berlin ...

. In 1908, Gilbert moved to Düsseldorf and again turned to composing. Back in Berlin by 1910, he composed more than 50 operettas before and after World War I. His most successful work was '' Die keusche Susanne'' (1910), which was also popular in an English adaptation as ''

The Girl in the Taxi ''The Girl in the Taxi'' is the English-language adaptation by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis of the operetta ''Die keusche Susanne'' (''Chaste Susanne'', 1910 in Magdeburg), with music by Jean Gilbert. The German original had a libretto by G ...

''. As a Jew, Gilbert was forced to leave Germany after the

Nazi seizure of power The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

in January 1933. He first emigrated to Madrid and later to Argentina, where he once again worked as a

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

orchestra leader. He died in Buenos Aires. His elder son Robert Gilbert (1899–1978) was also a composer, his younger son

Henry Winterfeld Henry Winterfeld (April 9, 1901 – January 27, 1990), published under the pseudonym Manfred Michael, was a German writer and artist famous for his children's and young adult novels. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1940 and lived there until his ...

(1901–1990) became a well-known author of books for young readers.

Selected works

*''Das Jungfernstift'', 1901, Hamburg *', 1909, Cottbus *'' Die keusche Susanne'', 1910, Magdeburg *''Autoliebchen'', 1912, Berlin ("Ja, das haben die Mädchen so gerne") *''Puppchen'', 1912, Berlin ("Puppchen, du bist mein Augenstern") *''Die Kino-Königin'', 1913 *''Fräulein Tralala'', 1913 Konigsberg *''Die Frau im Hermelin'', 1919, Berlin *''Katja, die Tänzerin'', 1923, Vienna *''Das Weib in Purpur'', 1923, Vienna *''Annemarie'', 1925, Berlin *''

Yvonne Yvonne is a feminine given name, the female form of Yvon (given name), Yvon, which is derived from the French language, French name Yves (given name), Yves and Yvette. It is from the French word ''iv'', meaning "yew" (or tree). Since yew wood was ...

'', 1926, London (with

Vernon Duke Vernon Duke ( 16 January 1969) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter who also wrote under his birth name, Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for " Taking a Chance on Love," with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche (1940), "I ...

) *''Hotel Stadt Lemberg'', 1929, Hamburg

Selected filmography

* '' One Hour of Happiness'' (1931) * '' The Girl and the Boy'' (1931) * ''

Two Hearts Beat as One "Two Hearts Beat as One" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the seventh track on their 1983 album, '' War'', and was released as its second single in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia on 21 March 1983. History The music vide ...

'' (1932)

References

*', (ed.), Stuttgart 1962

External links

* *
List of stage works
operone.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Jean 1879 births 1942 deaths German classical composers German male classical composers German operetta composers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Argentina Composers from Hamburg