Josef Holbrooke

[Gareth Vaughan]

Having helped prepare a new set of parts for "The Grasshopper", the originals being in a pretty poor state, I can confirm that this project is going ahead. Jean Holbrooke told me earlier this week that she was in the process of collecting up the orchestral parts for Symphony No. 3. The performing material for the Auld Lang Syne Variations is already with the Brandenburgers who gave a couple public performances in Germany in the spring of this year.

[albion]

Further to the puzzle of the musicians 'commemorated' by Holbrooke in his Auld Lang Syne Variations, Op.60 could the following be plausible candidates - some are fairly obvious, others somewhat less so! Discrepancies in the initials given on the flyleaf of the full score, in the body of the full score and in the piano score add to the confusion:

1. J.H. - Joseph Holbrooke
2. F.B. - Frank Bridge
3. A.B. - Arnold Bax
4. C.T. - Coleridge-Taylor
5. W.W. in the full score - William Wallace/ V.W. in the piano score - Vaughan Williams
6. B.D. - Benjamin Dale
7. E.S. - Ethel Smyth
8. R.W. - Richard Walthew
9. E.E. - Edward Elgar
10. F.D. - Frederic Delius
11. J.S. - Joseph Speaight
12. F.C.N. - ?
13. S.H. - ?
14. H.B. - Havergal Brian
15. C.I. on the flyleaf of the full score - ?/ C.J. in the body of the full score - ?/ C.F. in the piano score - Cecil Forsyth
16. C.S. in the full score - Cyril Scott/ C.D. in the piano score - ?
17. R.S. - Reginald Stegall
18. G.M. - ?
19. J.J.I. on the flyleaf of the full score - ?/ J.I. in the body of the full score - John Ireland/ J.H.F. in the piano score - John Herbert Foulds
20. G.B. - Granville Bantock

As "An impression of my musical friends and their work", in certain variations Holbrooke's homage is remarkably fickle! Hopefully, the CPO recording may shed a little more light upon this tangled web.

Any other suggestions (particularly for variations 12, 13 and 18)? 

[jerfilm]

Seems like the wrong period, but G.M.- George MacFarren??

[dafrieze]

F. C. N. might be Francis Cotter Nixon, whose name I know only because an article was written about him and his now completely unsung music in the British Music Society newsletter some years ago.

[dafrieze]

Whoops - I just realized that was Henry Cotter Nixon.  So - never mind...

[albion]

Seems like the wrong period, but G.M.- George MacFarren??

It seems unlikely, as Macfarren died on Halloween in 1887, when Joseph was only nine - all the other variations seem to be 'portraits' of Holbrooke's early-twentieth-century contemporaries.

[eschiss1]

It seems unlikely, as Macfarren died on Halloween in 1887, when Joseph was only nine - all the other variations seem to be 'portraits' of Holbrooke's early-twentieth-century contemporaries.

Nor is G.M. Georges Mac-Master (Irish despite the French name), I suspect, who died in 1898. I wonder who, then... (btw the full score is dated July 1906??)

[albion]

I wonder who, then... (btw the full score is dated July 1906??)

Although the full score is dated July 1906, the first performance did not take place until 8th May 1915 (Queen's Hall Orchestra/ Basil Cameron). The piano version was written later, first performed by Rita Neve in Steinway Hall on 23rd March 1918 and published in 1920.

It is highly possible that there are substantial differences between these presentations of the score, given the lapse in time - the changing of initials in variations 5, 15, 16 and 19 would support such a conjecture (Vaughan Williams was still relatively unknown in 1906, his first 'big' premiere being Toward the Unknown Region at the 1907 Leeds Festival).

Unfortunately, not having immediate access to either the full or the piano scores, I can't confirm or refute this! Given Holbrooke's pugnacious nationalism it is probable that all the musicians depicted were British, but can we be sure? 

[Gareth Vaughan]

I think that R.S. and G.M. are Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler respectively. FCN is almost certainly Frederick C. Nicholls, whose songs Holbrooke admired.

[Alan Howe]

I hardly dared suggest Mahler. Is it at all possible, do you think?

[vandermolen]

The CPO CD of orchestral music by Josef Holbrooke has now been released. It contains the early tone poems, The Viking and Ulalume + the late overture Amontillado (in effect, another tone poem based on E.A. Poe, a perennial source of inspiration for the composer) and the delicious orchestral variations on "Three Blind Mice", a tour de force of invention. The orchestra is the Brandurburgisches Staatsorchester, Frankfurt an der Oder, under Howard Griffiths, and they play superbly. The booklet notes by Franz Groborz are excellent. My only quibble is that one of the music examples is incorrectly printed: instead of the love theme from The Viking, which is what is being referred to, the printer has duplicated a theme referred to earlier from Amontillado! A pity. But it is marvellous to have these works available in good modern sound and splendidly committed performances.

Yes, this is a fine CD, although, on balance,  prefer the chamber music.

[albion]

I think that R.S. and G.M. are Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler respectively. FCN is almost certainly Frederick C. Nicholls, whose songs Holbrooke admired.

Thanks for this, Gareth - I had begun to seriously wonder whether or not the 'dedications' were entirely British! Are there substantial differences between the full and the piano scores which might explain the inconsistencies in variations 5, 15, 16 and 19?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I have never seen the piano score - but I will endeavour to have a look at it, with the orchestral score to hand.

[eschiss1]

I think that R.S. and G.M. are Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler respectively. FCN is almost certainly Frederick C. Nicholls, whose songs Holbrooke admired.

Musicsack.com claims the C. is for Charles, btw, but every source I consult gives a birthyear of 1871 (Musicsack adds 8 January) and a death date of '?'.  May be able to find more information elsewhere (ok, realize no one asked.) Not the same, of course, as 'FNC' (not that anyone's using that...) which might be Frederick Nicholls Crouch (1808-1896, English cellist, trumpeter and composer who fought on the South's side in the US Civil War.)

[albion]

I think that R.S. and G.M. are Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler respectively. FCN is almost certainly Frederick C. Nicholls, whose songs Holbrooke admired.

Gareth, given the speculative inclusion of Strauss and Mahler in the list, is it possible that Variation 16 began as Cyril Scott (C.S.) in the full score and then became Claude Debussy (C.D.) in the piano score, in view of the stylistic similarities between the two composers?