Helen Dellenbaugh Tretbar[1] (May 16, 1835 – April 3, 1902)[2] was an American author,[3][4] librettist, and translator[5] who editedThe Etude magazine in the late 1880s[6] and was fluent in French, German, and Italian.[7]
Tretbar was born in Buffalo, New York,[8] to Frederick and Magdalena Dellenbaugh.[1] She graduated from the Female Academy in Buffalo (today theBuffalo Seminary),[9] and married Charles F. Tretbar (1832-1909),[10] who worked forSteinway & Sons and also published at least 40 works, including many of his wife's translations.
Tretbar translatedFrom the Tone World. A Series of Essays byLouis Ehlert from German to English; her translation was published in 1884 by her husband. In 1887, she began working forThe Etude magazine, eventually becoming the managing editor. In 1889, William A. Pond & Co. publishedTwenty-one New Song Vocalises, with music by Paolo La Villa and original texts by Tretbar.[11] A review inFrank Leslie's Sunday Magazine noted that. . . "Mrs Tretbar's words rise often to the dignity of real poems and not a few of the vocalises are worthy of being sung parlor songs."[12] In 1891, Tretbar adapted the original German libretto (byMoritz West andLudwig Held) ofCarl Zeller's operettaDer Vogelhandler for performance in America. RenamedThe Tyrolean, it was performed 100 times at theCasino Theatre in New York. In 1947, it was performed in London asThe Bird Seller.[13]
^Cohen, Aaron I. (1987).International encyclopedia of women composers (Second edition, revised and enlarged ed.). New York.ISBN0-9617485-2-4.OCLC16714846.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Hixon, Donald L. (1993).Women in music : an encyclopedic biobibliography. Don A. Hennessee (2nd ed.). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press.ISBN0-8108-2769-7.OCLC28889156.
