Jean Gilbert

Jean Gilbert, 1913

Jean Gilbert (11 February 1879 – 20 December 1942) was a German operetta composer and conductor. His real name was Max Winterfeld. He adopted the name of Jean Gilbert for the production of his first operetta in 1901.

Life and career

Gilbert was born in Hamburg. He studied at the conservatories of Sondershausen and Weimar, as well as under Philipp Scharwenka in Berlin.

He composed more than 50 operettas before and after World War I, working mainly in Berlin. His most successful work was Die keusche Susanne (1910), which was also popular in an English adaptation as The Girl in the Taxi. Gilbert was Jewish, and had to leave Germany when the Nazis came to power. He emigrated to Argentina in 1933, and died in Buenos Aires. His son Robert Gilbert (1899–1978) was also a composer. His cousin was the composer Paul Dessau.

Selected works

• Das Jungfernstift, 1901, Hamburg
• Polnische Wirtschaft, 1909, Cottbus
• Die keusche Susanne, 1910, Magdeburg
• Das Autoliebchen, 1912, Berlin

Ja, das haben die Mädchen so gerne

• Puppchen, 1912, Berlin

Puppchen, du bist mein Augenstern

• Die Kino-Königin, 1913
• Die Frau im Hermelin, 1919, Berlin
• Katja, die Tänzerin, 1923, Vienna
• Das Weib in Purpur, 1923, Vienna
• Annemarie, 1925, Berlin
• Yvonne, 1926, London (with Vernon Duke)^[1]
• Hotel Stadt Lemberg, 1929, Hamburg

Selected filmography

• One Hour of Happiness (1931)
• The Girl and the Boy (1931)
• Two Hearts Beat as One (1932)

References

• Reclams Operettenführer, Anton Würz (ed.), Stuttgart 1962

Specific

External links

• Jean Gilbert at the Internet Movie Database
• Stage works
• Free scores by Jean Gilbert at the International Music Score Library Project