Henry F. Gilbert

Who was Henry F. Gilbert?

Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert was an American composer and collector of folk songs. He is best remembered today for his interest in the music of African-Americans around the turn of the 20th century.

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. In 1900 he attended a performance of Gustave Charpentier's Louise which sent him back to music, and he soon became interested in American folk and popular music in particular. His Negro Episode—adapted from pieces he had heard on field trips—was performed in New York in 1896, and in 1905 he completed Americanesque, an orchestral suite based on three tunes from minstrel shows.

Gilbert's interest in folk music had led him to the music of American blacks, 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.