Victor Herbert autograph and photo: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a photograph and autograph of Victor Herbert mounted with gray mat board and framed under glass in a silver colored frame. It was a special presentation by ASCAP to the Smithsonian Institution. There is an inscription:

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) presents this photograph of Victor Herbert, the Founding Father of ASCAP, in celebration of the first complete recording of a Herbert work, "Naughty Marietta: by the Smithsonian Institution -- Hal David, President, ASCAP

Victor Herbert (1859-1924) was the dominant composer for Broadway musical theater during the first two decades of the 20th century, writing music for The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), The Red Mill (1906), Naughty Marietta (1910), Sweethearts (1913), and other productions. Born in Dublin, Ireland, and trained in Stuttgart, Germany, Victor Herbert came to the United States in 1886 to perform as first cellist for the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra. He later held other important positions with American bands and symphonic orchestras and began a steller career in musical composition. In 1913 Herbert took a leading role in the establishment of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the organization that protects songwriters and publishers from unlicensed performance of their creative works. Herbert became the first president of the organization.

Materials, dates and provenance

• presentation date: 1982
• presenter: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
• Object Name: autograph and photo
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: glass (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 15 1/4 in x 21 1/4 in; 38.735 cm x 53.975 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: 1982.0269.01
• accession number: 1982.0269
• catalog number: 1982.0269.01
• Credit Line: American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, through Hal David
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.