Joseph Street 1841-1908

[giles.enders]

Joseph Edward Street  born 1841 Surrey, England - died 1908 Surrey, England


Orchestral

Symphony No.1 in E flat  Op.4 1857
Symphony No.2 in D minor  Op.14  1862
Overture 'Two Gentlemen of Verona'  Op.8   1858 pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major  Op.20  1865
Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor  Op.24  1871

Chamber

Piano Quintet with double bass  Op.26  1872
String Quartet in E minor  Op.27  1875
Piano Trio No.1 Op.6  1858   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Piano Trio No.2 Op.11  1863  pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel 
Violin Sonata in B flat No.1 Op.21   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Violin Sonata in E flat No.2 Op.28  1876  pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Cello Sonata in B flat  Op.22   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Seven variations with introduction and finale for cello and piano Op.18  1863

Piano

Piano Sonata No.1 in F sharp minor Op.15   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Piano Sonata No.2 'Appassionata' Op.16  pub by Breitkopf & Hartel
Piano Sonata No.3  Op.17   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Piano Sonata No.4 in F Op.19   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Piano Sonata No.5 in C Op.23   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Piano Sonata No.6 in B flat minor Op.25   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Two Morceaux for piano Op.2   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Caprice  Op.7   pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel

[eschiss1]

The overture is his opus 8, published around 1858 by Breitkopf. (If these works were first published by British publishers, HMB won't catch that, but I'll see if I can find out in a bit and edit appropriately.)
The first piano trio is opus 6, also published ca.1858 (Breitkopf again unless otherwise noted.)
Piano Sonata No.1 is opus 15, pub.ca.1859.
Piano Sonata No.2 "Appassionata" is opus 16, pub.ca.1859.
Piano Sonata no.3 is opus 17, pub.ca.1860.
Piano Sonata no.4 was pub.ca.1863.
Piano Sonata no.5 - pub.ca.1869.
Piano Sonata no.6 Op.25 - pub.ca.1871/72. may not have survived or maybe just not in the libraries/... checked?
Symphony no.2 op.14 was published ca.1862.
The 7 Variations avec Introduction et Final for piano and cello op.18 were published  ca.1863.
Piano Trio No.2 op.11 dates to ca.1863 (again, publication date with all of these until one has reason to know better )
The first piano concerto is op.20.
The 2 Morceaux for piano op.2 and the caprice op.7 were republished (probably not first published) 1868.
Violin sonata no.1 op.21 - pub.1868. (ca. etc. etc. ...)
The cello sonata is op.22 not op.21 as you've probably noticed- bit the duplication there. Also published 1868.
The 2nd piano concerto Op.24 - perhaps premiered 1870? don't know- but published ca.1871 at least in Europe (July 1871 HMB.)
Piano Quintet Op.26 with double bass - pub.ca.1872.
String Quartet Op.27 - pub.ca.1874.
2nd violin sonata op.28 (listed as being in E-flat but who knows) yep, pub.ca.1876.

HMB is only sometimes accurate with keys (generally speaking; I can't say as to these scores in particular), which it often supplies (D for the 2nd symphony, B-flat for the first violin sonata, E-flat for the piano quintet, E-flat and A for the piano trios, F-sharp minor, E-flat minor, A minor, and A-flat major for the 1st 2nd 3rd and 6th piano sonatas for example)- I prefer to get my hands on a score...

Both the first violin sonata (indeed in B-flat) and the cello sonata quasi fantasia (in G) opp 21 and 22 are at IMSLP.

[giles.enders]

For someone who we don't think much of I think we have done rather well for Street.  He must have written something worth while!

[eschiss1]

I hope so. I almost always like to give someone a chance . I gather though that the cellists and violinists on the forum who (1) have expressed any opinion about Street and (2) have had a look at the two sonatas posted to IMSLP were unimpressed... (and there was some mention of runthroughs of his symphonies and concerto solo parts etc. but those I haven't seen at all.

[giles.enders]

At one time he owned 'The Lady Blunt' Stradivarius violin.  His son was the famous clarinetist Oscar Street, there are a series of letters between him and the composer Otto Goldschmidt in the British Library. 

[Gareth Vaughan]

Gillian Thoday was very dismissive about the Cello Sonata when I showed it to her - and I must say it is no great shakes. Both PCs, IMHO, are very dull indeed, and rather amateur. Don't know anything else by him.

[thalbergmad]

To describe the piano concertos as "without event" would be generous.

I cannot imagine anyone being interested in a performance.

Thal

[Darrel Hoffman]

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I wasn't sure if it was proper to start a new one or not.  I also didn't realize there was such a negative opinion of this guy, but in my ongoing quest to bring attention to forgotten composers, I was in the process of transcribing his second piano concerto from IMSLP:

https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.2%2C_Op.24_(Street%2C_Joseph)

And I ran into another case of "rage over a lost page".  Specifically pages 34 and 35 are completely missing from the score.  Any chance anyone knows an alternate source for this one?  And if such can be found, the IMSLP score should probably be updated, of course.

Funny, because the last missing page request I made was the Theodore Thurner, and in that case, the score had too many page 35's (in place of other pages).  Something about the number 35 just can't catch a break.

[eschiss1]

This happens in manuscript scores a lot, tangentially. Variations get repeated and skipped, too... (I'm looking at you, KSS adore the music, but - careless.)

[Darrel Hoffman]

One of the bigger problems in searching is this guy's name.  It just so happens that the Canadian Music Centre, a major source for orchestral manuscripts, is apparently located on Joseph Street in Toronto, so nearly every search result points there.  (They do not appear to have it.)  Presumably it would be somewhere in the UK since he was English.

The music doesn't suffer all that much from the missing pages - I was already on around page 200 or so before I noticed the measure-count was off and traced it back, and found some notes on the end of page 33 that are tied to nothing.  There's a bit of a thematic jump, but after all the dramatic unexpected changes in the Thurner, I guess I've become numb to that?

[eschiss1]

The British Library has the score, but I don't know if that helps. Maybe send an email request about it?

According to Worldcat, you might also try Boston Public Library, and Fleisher has it too (the latter unhelpful, yes, unless you're an institution unto yourself, I know... but I see they do have it, anyway -- OCLC 55651169.)

[Darrel Hoffman]

Hmm, I may have a possible connection to the Boston Public Library, as my father is a state college professor near Boston (not in music, but he might still be able to get access to the library).  He's also in a wind band at the school if they need an orchestra connection (they couldn't play this of course, having no string section, but it might help).  He doesn't even need to check the book out - simply photographing the 2 missing pages would be enough.

[eschiss1]

Well, looking at the BPL online catalog info about their copy, it can't be checked out anyway, it can be looked at in library at call no. "BROWN M.348.17 no.1", there's a request button at https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S75C5840888. They do seem to have the 258-page full score, not a reduction. ("Boston Public Library (Arts Department) bound volume contains: Ouverture zu Shakespeare's Die beiden Veroneser / Joseph Street.")

(They estimate publication date 1870; HMB suggests 1871 - see this link.)

I suspect however that since "US-Bpr" means Boston Public Library, that is to say that the scan that IMSLP has is from Boston Public Library, that assuming the Archive.org original also has the same problems as the copy at IMSLP (going to go check for pp.34&35 @ archive.org then...), that it may well be that so does the score at Archive.org- but- it's worth checking; maybe the scanner at their end made some mistakes.

[eschiss1]

Ooh, hold up. The BSB (Bavarian State Library- Bayerische Staatsbibliothek) scan has the missing pp.34, 35, and maybe the others too.

https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb11152943

Hope that helps!!! (has maybe 272 pp. to BPR/Archive.org/Boston's 258.)

[Darrel Hoffman]

Ah, yes the pages are there, thanks.  That saves me from having to send my dad on a mission for it.  I assume the 14 extra pages instead of just 2 is because it includes things like the front and back covers, and some title and blank pages at the beginning and end.  I did check the entire thing when I found the missing pages to make sure there were no others, and it was just those two.  Are you able to submit a correction to IMSLP, as someone did with the Thurner?  I don't need it for me of course, I just like to correct things when I find them in case anyone else wants to perform this at some point.