Gilbert, Jean, (real name, Max Winterfeld)

Gilbert, Jean, (real name, Max Winterfeld) German composer; b. Hamburg, Feb. 11, 1879; d. Buenos Aires, Dec. 20, 1942. He was trained in Kiel, Sondershausen, Weimar, and Berlin. In 1897 he began his career as a conductor at the Bremerhaven City Theater. Soon after, he went to Hamburg as conductor at the CarlSchultze Theater. In 1900 he became conductor at the Centralhallen-Theater, where he brought out his first stage work, Das Jungfernstift or Comtesse (Feb. 8, 1901). After conducting in provincial music centers, he devoted himself to composing for the theater. He attained his first notable success with the musical comedy Polnische Wirtschaft (Cottbus, Dec. 26, 1909). Then followed an even greater success with Die keusche Susanne (Magdeburg, Feb. 26, 1910), which was subsequently performed throughout Germany, France, England, and Spain. In 1910 he went to Berlin, where he brought out Autoliebchen (March 16, 1912), Puppchen (Dec. 19, 1912), Die Kino-Königen (March 8,1913; rev. version of Die elfte Muse, Hamburg, Nov. 22, 1912), and Die TangoPrinzessin (Oct. 4, 1913). He also had success with Fraulein Tralala (Konigsberg, Nov. 15, 1913). During World War I, he continued to compose numerous stage works, including the Berlin favorites Die Fraulein von Ami (Sept. 2, 1915), Blondinchen (March 4, 1916), Die Fahrt ins Gluck (Sept. 2, 1916), Das Vagabundenmadel (Dec. 2, 1916), and Die Dose seiner Majestat (Sept. 1, 1917). Also notable were Arizonda (Vienna, Feb. 1, 1916) and Eheurlaub (Breslau, Aug. 1, 1918). With the War over, Gilbert had a tremendous success with Die Frau im Hermelin (Berlin, Aug. 23, 1919) and Katja, die Tanzerin (Vienna, Jan. 5, 1922). Subsequent works included Donne und der Zufall (Berlin, Sept. 15, 1922), Die kleine Siinderin (Berlin, Oct. 1, 1922), Das Weib im Purpur (Vienna, Dec. 21, 1923), Geliebte seiner Hoheit (Berlin, Sept. 24, 1924), Uschi (Hamburg, Jan. 24, 1925; later used in the pasticcio Yvonne, London, May 22, 1926), Anne-marie (Berlin, July 2, 1915), and Hotel Stadt Lemberg (Hamburg, July 1, 1929). After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Gilbert lived in several European cities before emigrating to Buenos Aires in 1939. His son, Robert Gilbert (real name, David Robert Winterfeld; b. Berlin, Sept. 29, 1899; d. Minusio, March 20, 1978), was a librettist, lyricist, and composer. He collaborated with his father on several scores and also wrote many of his own. However, he became best known for his German-language adaptations of such American musicals as Annie Get Your Gun (1956), My Fair Lady (1961), Hello, Dolly! (1966), and The Man of La Mancha (1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire