Henriette Blanke-Belcher (February 16, 1882 – March 1958), also known as Henrietta Blanke-Belcher and later as Henriette B. Melson, was an American composer of popular music, especially waltzes and ragtime tunes.

Early life

Henriette Berger Blanke was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, the eldest of four daughters of Max Blanke and Dora Berger Blanke. Her father was an immigrant from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

; her mother was from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Henriette was raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

; her father died in the latter city when she was a teenager.Edwards, Bill
"Henriette Blanke-Belcher"
RagPiano.com.

Career

Henriette Blanke worked for Whitney-Warner Publishing Company and Jerome H. Remick, music publishing companies in Detroit. They published many of her compositions. She performed in vaudeville in 1909, and a number of recordings of her compositions were made between 1905 and 1926. "I want to become known as a waltz writer exclusively," she said in 1902, but she also wrote ballads and novelty songs. Compositions by Blanke-Belcher included "Lazarre Waltzes" (1901), "Francezka Waltzes" (1902, named for the novel by Molly Eliot Seawell), "Hearts Courageous: Waltzes" (1902), "Cubanola: A Spanish Love Serenade" (1902), "Under the Rose: Waltzes" (1903), "Peggy O'Neal Waltzes" (1903), "My Wigwam Queen" (1903, words by James O'Dea), "Colleen: An Irish Love Song" (1903, words by Eddie Dustin), "My Lady of the North Waltzes" (1904), "Hearts' Haven Waltzes" (1905), "When the Mockingbirds are Singing in the Wild Wood" (1906), "Stingy Moon" (1906, words by Will Heelan), "The Enchantress: Waltzes" (1907), "In the Good Old Irish Way" (1907, words by Will Heelan), "I Will Try" (1908, words by B. B. Ellison), "Marsovia: Waltzes" (1908), "The New Barn Dance" (1908), "Ain't You Coming Out To-night" (1909, words by

Ren Shields Ren Shields was an American folk musician born in 1868 in Chicago, Illinois. He died on 25 October 1913 in Massapequa, New York. He co-wrote the song with George "Honey Boy" Evans "In the Good Old Summer Time "In the Good Old Summer Time" is ...

), "Honeyland" (1909, words by Stanley Murphy), "Lonesome Land" (1909, words by Bartley Costello), "I'll Do Anything But" (1909, words by Alfred Bryan), "Telling Lies" (1910, words by

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russi ...

), "Love Dreams" (1910, words by F. J. Crawford), "Maxine: Valse" (1910, named for her young daughter), "Put Your Head Upon my Shoulder" (1910, words by Alfred Bryan), "Just as Long as the Swanee Flows" (1911), "My Irish Girl" (1911, words by Alfred Bryan), "My Only One" (1911, words by William Parquet), "Polaire Waltzes" (1912), and, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, "Loyalty Waltz" (1918).

Personal life

Henriette Blanke married Frederick E. Belcher, an executive at Jerome H. Remick, in 1905, in Detroit. The couple lived in New York, and had one child, Maxine F. Belcher, born in 1906. They divorced in 1912. She married again in 1918, to a stockbroker, Ralph Melson. She died in 1958, in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

References

External links

Henriette Blanke-Belcher
on Discogs.
Henriette Blanke-Belcher sheet music
in the Parlor Salon Sheet Music Collection, DigitalCommons@UMaine.
Henriette Blanke-Belcher
compositions at the National Jukebox,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanke-Belcher, Henriette 1882 births 1958 deaths People from Kansas City, Missouri American composers Vaudeville performers