Meet Victor Herbert!
Very complex family situation here.
His mother was Frances Lover, daughter of the novelist, poet, composer and painter (!) Samuel Lover. She was married with Frederic Muspratt, and they had two children. Then, they separated when she got pregnant of August Herbert, a man about whom we know absolutely nothing. Victor Herbert was born in 1859 on the island of Guernsey, although he believed for his whole life to have been born in Dublin, and apparently was never aware of the existence of his two half-siblings.
After having summarized this weird beginning, let's just mention that he studied Piano, Flute, Cello and Composition in Germany, he was selected by Brahms to play for a celebration concert for Liszt in Vienna, and, after falling in love with the soprano Therese Förster, they both moved in to the States.
Active mostly in New York, he's nowadays remembered for having fought for the copyright of composers, and for being one of the founders of ASCAP (this was when for composers it was actually hard to get credit for what they wrote; how did that lead to the current US law that moves the copyright into virtually the eternity, it's something you should ask to Walt Disney).
Died rather suddenly in 1924, he left 43 operettas (!), two operas, orchestral works also with solos, Piano and chamber works, a number of orchestration of others' pieces, and The Fall of a Nation, one of the first original movie scores.
Are are the four Herbert's work you can fin on SPs score videos channel:
his Cello Concertos – No.1, in D major and No.2 in E minor
his Irish Rhapsody, a piece which was even over-performed when he was alive
Enjoy!
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