Central Park In Bronze

Location: 70th Street, mid-Park

Artist/Designer: Edmund Thomas Quinn

Materials: Bronze, Stony Creek granite

Installation: 1927

Funding: Commisioned by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)

 

Victor Herbert (1859-1924) is honored with this memorial in Central Park commissioned by ASCAP, an organization he co-founded. He won a landmark Supreme Court case that allowed ASCAP to charge fees to license public performances, such as recordings played in restaurants and at public venues. Since 1918, most professional music composers have benefitted through the collection of these fees and the distribution of royalties.

 

Born in Ireland, by his mid-20s Herbert became a respected cello soloist for the Royal Court Orchestra of Stuttgart, Germany. At age 27 he moved to New York with his wife to work for the Metropolitan Opera. Very prolific in his career, Herbert wrote a wide variety of musical compositions, including 43 operettas and, in 1916, the first film score for a motion picture, Fall of a Nation.  He conducted many times in Central Park, where his memorial now stands.