Gilbert, Robert
Gilbert Jean, born Max Winterfeld, *11 February 1879 Hamburg, †20 December 1942, Buenos Aires, German composer and conductor. He studied music in Kiel, Sondershausen, Weimar, and at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin. Between 1897 and 1910, he served as Kapellmeister at a theatre in Bremerhaven, at Hagenbeck’s circus in Stellingen, and at the Apollo-Variétes and Thalia-Theater in Berlin. In 1901, he wrote his first musical comedy, Jungfernstift, but real success came with the operetta Die keusche Susanne. From 1910 to 1933, Gilbert composed intensively. In 1933, he was forced to emigrate from Germany. He lived in Vienna, Paris, London, Barcelona, and Madrid. In 1939 he settled in Buenos Aires, where he conducted the orchestra of the El Mundo radio station.
Gilbert was a co-creator of the revue-style Berlin operetta. His works, characterized by straightforwardly witty plots, popular, though often banal, melodies, and formulaic harmonies, won the favor of audiences but did not gain critical acclaim.
Literature: B. Grün Kulturgeschichte der Operette, Berlin 1967, Polish ed. Dzieje operetki, trans. M. Kurecka, Krakow 1974.
over 50 farces and operettas, including:
Die keusche Susanne (Chaste Susanne), libretto G. Okonkowski, staged in Magdeburg 1910
Polnische Wirtschaft, staged in Berlin 1910
Die moderne Eva (A modern Eve), libretto G. Okonkowski and A. Schönfeld, staged in Berlin 1911
Puppchen, staged in Berlin 1912
Das Autoliebchen, staged in Berlin 1912
Die Kinokönigin, libretto G. Okonkowski and J. Freund, staged in Berlin 1913
Die Frau im Hermelin (Lady in Ermine), libretto R. Schanzer and E. Welisch, staged in Berlin 1919
Katja die Tänzerin, libretto L. Jacobsen and R. Oesterreicher, staged in Vienna 1923