Henriette Blanke-Belcher, 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, the eldest of four daughters of Max Blanke and Dora Berger Blanke. Her father was an immigrant from Romania; her mother was from New York City. Henriette was raised in Chicago and Detroit; her father died in the latter city when she was a teenager.
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 on 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", "Francezka Waltzes", "Hearts Courageous: Waltzes", "Cubanola: A Spanish Love Serenade", "Under the Rose: Waltzes", "Peggy O'Neal Waltzes", "My Wigwam Queen", "Colleen: An Irish Love Song", "My Lady of the North Waltzes", "Hearts' Haven Waltzes", "When the Mockingbirds are Singing in the Wild Wood", "Stingy Moon", "The Enchantress: Waltzes", "In the Good Old Irish Way", "I Will Try", "Marsovia: Waltzes", "The New Barn Dance", "Ain't You Coming Out To-night", "Honeyland", "Lonesome Land", "I'll Do Anything But", "Telling Lies", "Love Dreams", "Maxine: Valse", "Put Your Head Upon my Shoulder", "Just as Long as the Swanee Flows", "My Irish Girl", "My Only One", "Polaire Waltzes", and, during World War I, "Loyalty Waltz".
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.
