Josef Holbrooke

[Gareth Vaughan]

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? 

Given the way Holbrooke worked, I think it highly likely. He was always re-titling works and tinkering, presumably in order to make them somehow more likely to get a performance. It is known that Holbrooke wrote a PC as a student. I am absolutely convinced that what we know as the Symphonic poem No. 7 (or Piano Concerto) "The Song of Gwyn ap Nudd" is, in fact, this early work retitled and maybe slightly revamped. The quotations from the Mabinogion which litter the score just don't seem to make any sense. It would be typical of Jo to give the work a fancy name in order to excite enough interest to get it played. Symphonic Poem it is not - Romantic PC it most certainly is. However, I have no way of proving this theory - it just seems likely from what one knows of the man. And he was certainly not alone in doing this sort of thing: "If they won't play my piano concerto, perhaps they'll play my Celtic Twilight symphonic poem."

[albion]

Gareth, you are not alone in thinking that The Song of Gwyn ap Nudd was a metamorphosis: Stephen Lloyd (Sir Dan Godfrey: Champion of British composers, Thames, 1995) explicitly states that the Dramatique Piano Concerto (then labelled Op.30) performed by Holbrooke in Bournemouth on 14th April 1902 and repeated at Bournemouth in November 1903 (as Poeme) was a precursor to the concerto as we now know it.

In Holbrooke: some catalogue data (Music and Letters, 1965, XLVI  (4): 297-305) Kenneth L. Thompson gives this work another opus number:

Piano concerto in F minor ('Dramatique'), Op. 36. Composed: 1896-1900. Premiere: 14 April 1902, by the composer and the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra conducted by Dan Godfrey. London: 27 Aug. 1903, Promenade Concert, composer and the Queen's Hall Orchestra, cond. Wood.

According to Lloyd (f.n. 12, p.58), on the basis of information from Gwydion Brooke, there is a final version of the Auld Lang Syne Variations in which D.G. (Dan Godfrey) replaces H.B. (Havergal Brian) as Variation 14.

[JimL]

Well, I just ordered my first Holbrooke - the Cambrian Cello Concerto and the 4th Symphony, Homage à Schubert.  If I like 'em I'll splurge on the Gwyn ap Nudd PC from Hyperion.

[Mark Thomas]

I appreciate that there are pitfalls in assuming that composers' characters mirrored what we now feel for their music (after all, by most accounts Raff' wasn't the easiest person to get on with) but I must say that I'm a little disappointed by Holbrooke's cavalier way with these initials. Not so much that they signpost the ebb and flow of his friendships or enthusiasms, more that he felt that a variation which he presumably wrote as a pen portrait of one person will, at a later date, do perfectly well in his mind as a portrait of someone else. Surely there are implications for the value of these pieces as sincere (or at least considered) portraits in the first place? Or am I being hopelessly naive?

[albion]

So far, we seem to be at this point of (speculative) identification for the Auld Lang Syne Variations:

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. - Frederick Charles Nicholls
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 - [Claude Debussy?]
17. R.S. - Richard Strauss
18. G.M. - Gustav Mahler
19. J.J.I. on the flyleaf of the full score - [John Ireland?]/ 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

Given Holbrooke's reputation for falling-out with his fellow human beings, I'm surprised that only four of the variations (5, 15, 16 & 19) seem to be afflicted by the one-size-fits-all approach. Of these four, W.W./ V.W. and J.J.I/ J.I could plausibly be put down to printing errors, but the former is suspicious in that Vaughan Williams was not really on the radar in 1906 when the first version was composed and there can surely be no doubt that C.I./ C.J./ C.F., C.S./ C.D. and J.I./ J.H.F. represent deliberate re-alignment. It is possible that there are differences between the different versions of the score which might help to clarify these discrepancies - Gareth is perhaps in the best position to confirm this or otherwise.

Far from being disappointed in Holbrooke's waywardness, however, I am even more intrigued and eager to hear the promised CPO recording although I pity the writer who is given the task of preparing the programme-notes! 

[Pengelli]

What is it about Holbrooke? As soon as I see a new post I HAVE to click on it. Be warned 'JimL',the 'Gwyn ap Nudd' piano Concerto isn't as quirky or original as later Holbrooke.  However,the form of the piece is rather unusual,and if you like Welsh folklore & and rare,lushly romantic,slightly ott Piano Concerto's you can't do much better,(not that it actually sounds particularly Welsh,though!)
Can't wait for 'Ships & the Grasshopper'! I would get the Marco Polo cd for 'The Raven' though,even if the performances aren't exactly brilliant!
Anyway,back to the experts........

[Gareth Vaughan]

News at last of the CPO recording sessions for "The Grasshopper" VC. These took place from 15-18 of January with Judith Ingolfsson as soloist and the Brandenburgisher Staatsorchester under Howard Griffiths. The coupling will be "The Raven" and the "Auld Lang Syne" Variations. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient time to get the variations done in these sessions - at least, not to Howard's satisfaction. So these have been scheduled for May.  We must look elsewhere for a recording of "Ships" because Howard does not feel in sympathy with the music, so he has declined to conduct it.  I (and others) will try to interest Dutton.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Gareth, for this update.