Joseph (Josef) Holbrooke (1878-1958)

[albion]

I recently found and bought a copy of the quirky Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (Rudall Carte and the Holbrooke Society, 1937) and was pleased to find that it also contained a copy of the 1937 catalogue of Holbrooke's Poeana (works inspired by Edgar Allan Poe):

1. The Raven (piano score 8/-, full score 20/-, parts £6/6/-, piano duet 25/-)
2. Ulalume (piano score 8/-, full score 25/-, parts £6/6/-, piano duet 25/-, two pianos 25/-)
3. The Bells (vocal score 7/6, full score 25/-, parts £15/15-, Prelude full score 4/6, Prelude parts £4/4/-)
4. Song, Annabel Lee (full score 10/6, vocal score 4/-, parts 30/-)
5. Choir, To Zante (1/-)
6. Choral Symphony, Hommage to Poe (vocal score 6/-, full score 45/-, parts £4/4/-, sol-fa 1/-)
7. Symphony for String Orchestra, Al Aaraaf (full score £2/2/-, piano duet arrangement 15/-, parts £4/4/-)
8. Sextet for piano and woodwind, Israfel (piano score and parts 15/-)
9. Quintet for quartet and clarinet, Ligeia (score 5/-, parts 15/-)
10. Piano Suite, Eldorado (12/6)
11. Piano Suite, The Lake (18/-)
12. March - Tragic, for horn and orchestra (12/6)
13. Symphonietta for wind and brass orchestra, The Sleeper (score (25/-, piano arrangement 12/-, parts 15/-)
14. Ballet, The Red Masque (score 45/-, piano 6/-, parts £5)
15. Overture - Dramatic, Amontillado (score 20/-, piano arrangement 18/6, parts £3/10-)
16. Fantasie for orchestra, The Pit and the Pendulum (score £3/3/-, piano arrangement 12/6, parts £4/4/-)
17. Romance for strings (10/6)
17b. Song, Of all who hail (6/-)
17c. Song, Bridal Song (6/-)
18a. Nocturne - Dreams, for harp and flute (7/6)
18b. Quintet arrangement (score and parts 15/-)
19. Lenore, for violin or cello solo (6/-)
20. Nonetto, Irene (score and parts 30/-, full score 25/-)
21. Trio, Fairyland (score and parts 6/-)
22. Concertino, Tamerlane (score 20/-, piano arrangement 10/6, parts 20/-)
23. Dance Symphony, for piano and orchestra, Bon-Bon (score £5, piano 25/-, parts £7/7/-)
24. Fantasie for orchestra, Descent into the Maelstrom (score £6/6/-, piano arrangement £5/10/-, parts £8/8/-)

This is an intriguing list for several reasons - it details various scores for purchase which are now regarded as lost or missing and asserts that the Complete set [of works contained in the catalogue has been] sold to several libraries. Inside the actual volume itself there is a further reference in the Preface - As we write this, we hear that the complete collection of Holbrooke's "Poeana" - 25 works [he must have added another after the catalogue was printed] - have been ordered for a famous American Library.

Was this typical Holbrookean bravado, or were full scores for the Dance Symphony (here titled Bon-Bon) and Descent into the Maelstrom actually supplied to these (unfortunately unspecified) libraries?

[vandermolen]

I tend to prefer the chamber music to the orchestral works.

[Jimfin]

I am rather excited by the possibility of some 'lost' works turning up. I always enjoy Holbrooke, and his very inconsistency, occasional overblownness, frequent lapses into music-hall melodies and chaotic cataloguing, only make me feel his is a very special character. He is so often coupled with Bantock, but the latter was suave, organised, upper-class and sometimes a bit lacking in character, whereas Holbrooke strikes me as the opposite. It adds to his appeal that when I was a teenager it was nigh impossible to hear anything of his music.

[Dundonnell]

Not recorded certainly......or at least not yet

[Jimfin]

Am I right in thinking that his final (8th?) symphony was also his final (3rd?) piano concerto? Does this survive? So much seems to be unknown, half known, or just speculation about this man!

[Dundonnell]

Am I right in thinking that his final (8th?) symphony was also his final (3rd?) piano concerto? Does this survive? So much seems to be unknown, half known, or just speculation about this man!

My understanding is that Symphony No.8 of 1930 is for Piano and Orchestra and is entitled the "Dance Symphony" but the full score is lost

[albion]

Fifth and Sixth symphonies have been ever recorded or broadcasted?

None have been broadcast and only Symphony No.4 has been recorded (by Dutton). The other, unrecorded, works are -

Symphony No.1 [also styled Suite], Les Hommages, Op.40
A Dramatic Choral Symphony - Hommage to E.A. Poe [also styled Symphony No.1], Op.48
Symphony No.2, Apollo and the Seaman, Op.51
Symphony No.3, Ships, Op.90
Symphony No.5 for Brass Band, Wild Wales, Op. 106
Symphony No.6 for Military Band, Old England, Op.107
Symphony No.7 for Strings, Al Aaraaf, Op.109
Symphony No.8 for Piano and Orchestra, Dance Symphony, Op.112

No.3 is allegedly due to be recorded by Howard Griffiths for CPO.

Am I right in thinking that his final (8th?) symphony was also his final (3rd?) piano concerto? Does this survive? So much seems to be unknown, half known, or just speculation about this man!

My understanding is that Symphony No.8 of 1930 is for Piano and Orchestra and is entitled the "Dance Symphony" but the full score is lost

Symphony No.8 is also styled Piano Concerto No.3 and appears to exist only in a copyist's reduction for two pianos (in Cambridge University Library).

[Jimfin]

Thank you for that very enlightening information. Another work to pray for next time I go to  shrine, then. So, do I (optimistically) understand that all the earlier symphonies are still extant?

[Dundonnell]

I believe so....but Gareth Vaughan is the Holbrooke expert

[Dundonnell]

I am currently engaged-surprise, surprise -in an attempt to produce a chronological catalogue of Holbrooke's Orchestral and Choral Music.

As can probably be well-imagined, not only am I finding it extremely difficult, I am becoming doubtful if I shall actually retain my sanity

If I may send a draft  copy to those who know more about Holbrooke than I before I even contemplate putting it up here I would be most grateful

[shamokin88]

Save your sanity. Check out if the recent proof of Fermat's last theorem is the same as the one for which Fermat wrote that he had no room in the margin. A Holbrooke catalogue is beyond one's ken.

[Dundonnell]

Save your sanity. Check out if the recent proof of Fermat's last theorem is the same as the one for which Fermat wrote that he had no room in the margin. A Holbrooke catalogue is beyond one's ken.

It may indeed be beyond anyone-certainly, at least, in a chronological format as offered in the other catalogues I have compiled. At the moment I am inclined to publish by opus number and allow others to identify possible dates of composition.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Publish by opus no? Good luck. Holbrooke used the same opus no. for different compositions and the same composition was frequently assigned more than one opus number. Send what you've got so far to me and I'll do what I can to help produce something comprehensive and cohesive.

[Dundonnell]

Publish by opus no? Good luck. Holbrooke used the same opus no. for different compositions and the same composition was frequently assigned more than one opus number. Send what you've got so far to me and I'll do what I can to help produce something comprehensive and cohesive.

I realise full well that I was 'fishing' for such an offer, Gareth It is nevertheless generous of you to make it and I shall certainly take you up on it

As you imply, trying to compile a Holbrooke catalogue is the most difficult and frustrating exercise I can imagine. Opus numbers appear to be sprayed across apparent decades of composition to the point when my original chronology exploded as nonsense

[Dundonnell]

This morning I came across a chapter on Holbrooke in "Our Favourite Musicians", Sydney Grew(1922). In his first paragraph Grew wrote ".....I cannot steady myself in the case of Holbrooke....by copying a list of compositions....because the list now would run from page to page, dates and serial opus numbers clashing, chronology all askew....".

I now know exactly how Mr. Grew felt because that is exactly my own experience.........