Holbrooke from Dutton

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thank you very much for this fascinating and invaluable information. It is such a pity that the family don't have any autograph scores. It seems that Josef got rid of most of them - sold, when he was hard-up, probably. The letters would be really interesting.

[albion]

Gareth, more good news - the autograph full scores of The Children of Don, Dylan and Apollo and the Seaman are at the British Library. The entry for The Children of Don tells us that the autograph full score of Bronwen sold at Sotheby's is now in the National Library of Wales:

Add. 54339
JOSEPH HOLBROOKE: 'Dylan, Son of the Wave', the second part of the operatic trilogy 'The Cauldron of Annwn', by Joseph Charles Holbrooke, a setting of poems by T. E. Ellis, i.e. Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden; 1909 (f. 3). Autograph full score, in ink. Full score first published 1911. First performed London, 4 July 1913. Presented by the composer to his nephew, Jim Baker, in Dec. 1951 (f. 2). Purchased from Mrs L. A. Baker, 18 May 1968.
Paper; ff. 170. 490 x 340mm. Red cloth binding, half red leather.

MSS Mus. 230-232. JOSEPH HOLBROOKE: music manuscripts; 1910 – circa 1920.

Three volumes.

MSS Mus. 230-231. JOSEPH HOLBROOKE: 'The Children of Don', music drama in a prologue and three acts to a libretto by Thomas Evelyn (Scott-)Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, after the Mabinogion, op.56; 1910-12. Autograph full score. Written in black ink, with numerous tempo markings and stage directions in red ink, as well as conductor's markings in crayon and pencil annotations in the hands of the composer and the engraver. Dated 1 Aug. 1910 (MS Mus. 230, f. 2), March 1911 (230, f. 194), July 1911 (231, f. 69), 20 Feb. 1912 (231, f. 140). With a note, 'With No Cuts as 1st performed – 1912 – by A. Nikisch & the Composer' (231, f. 1). Composed as the first part of the trilogy 'The Cauldron of Annwn': the full score of the second opera, 'Dylan' (1909) is Add. 54339, and that of the third, 'Bronwen' (1920) is MSS 23863-23865E in the National Library of Wales (lacking Act 1). First performed at Hammerstein's London Opera House, June 1912. Published Novello, 1912 (vocal score) and [1913] (full score). Purchased at Sotheby's, 15 May 1997 (lot 188).

Two volumes. 484 x 338mm. Red cloth binding, half red leather.

MS Mus. 230. Overture, Prologue and Act 1 (ff. 194).

MS Mus. 231. Acts 2 and 3 (ff. i + 140).

MS Mus. 232. JOSEPH HOLBROOKE: Quintet in G, for 2 violins, viola, 'cello and clarinet, op.27, no.2; circa 1920. Published score with autograph additional movement and copied parts. Subtitled '"Ligeia" ("Poeana" no. 2)' (f. 5). The quintet was originally written in two movements for horn and strings in 1901, and revised for clarinet and strings in 1910. It was published in two movements by Paxton & Co., in or after 1920. The composer subsequently made minor revisions to the two published movements and added the 'Nocturne' between them, attaching quotations from Poe's 'The Conqueror Worm' (in 'Ligeia') to each movement. All of these items bear a stamp of copyright of the Modern Music Library. Purchased from Lisa Cox, 8 Oct. 1997.

ff. 169. Overall size 315 x 287mm.

1. ff. 1-96. Printed score, with numerous corrections in autograph and typewritten quotations from Poe pasted onto the score. Marked 'Revised Ed.' (f. 2). The imprint of Paxton & Co. has been deleted and replaced by the stamp of the Modern Music Library.

2. ff. 97-102. 'Nocturne'. Autograph score of the additional second movement, in ink.

3. ff. 103-169. Parts for the three-movement version of the quintet. Copies, in ink.

Add. 64944
JOSEF HOLBROOKE: 'Apollo and the Seaman', dramatic choral symphony (words, Herbert Trench), op. 51; 1907. Full score. Autograph. Ink with pencil annotations including conductor's and engraver's markings. At the end (f. 161) is a revised version of the opening five bars incorporating amendments shown by annotations on f. 2. First performed 20 Jan. 1908, Queen's Hall, London, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. Published London: Novello, 1908. Purchased from Otto Haas, 28 Feb. 1987.
Paper; ff. ii+161. 355 x 265mm.

I've also tracked the letters to the British Library:

MSS Mus. 312-313. JOSEPH HOLBROOKE (b.1878, d.1958): letters to 'Ernest Newman' (William Roberts), music critic of The Times; 1900-56, n.d. With two letters from Holbrooke to Sir Granville Bantock and various other letters forwarded to Newman by Holbrooke. The correspondents are listed in the index. Purchased at Sotheby's, 8 Dec. 2000 (lot 99).

Two volumes. Overall size 300 x 230mm.

[Gareth Vaughan]

A valuable piece of research. Thank you very much. I must make time to investigate properly. Time (or, rather, lack of it) is the thing!

[Pengelli]

Fascinating. I'm printing it all out.

[albion]

The problem with manuscripts at the British Library is that they're catalogued in all sorts of sequences and with shelfmarks which you don't expect. Furthermore they're squirrelled away from the main public catalogue which makes them a real pain to track down. Perhaps my mental picture of Holbrooke staggering out of his burning house with these particular items was not far from the truth!

At least we can rest a bit easier, knowing that at least a few of the most important autographs are in safe hands.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I do agree with you about the MSS at BL - most eccentrically stored and catalogued.

[thalbergmad]

Complete nightmare, but they do have helpful librarians which makes things a little less complicated.

Thal

[albion]

The problem with manuscripts at the British Library is that they're catalogued in all sorts of sequences and with shelfmarks which you don't expect. Furthermore they're squirrelled away from the main public catalogue which makes them a real pain to track down.

Not only the British Library! Having located the autograph full score of Bronwen, I was perturbed to find that no method of searching the National Library of Wales catalogues brought up a reference to it. I contacted the library a few days ago and have just received the following reply:

The manuscript of 'Bronwen' is held at the Library and was catalogued some years ago (NLW MSS 23862-23865E). However, on close inspection, the catalogue entry is, for some unknown reason, hidden from public view, which explains why you were unable to find it.

We apologise and thank you for drawing attention to the matter. We have now released the description in our main catalogue.

Consequently a search now brings up the following detailed description:

Ref. no.      NLW MSS 23863-23865E
Title    Joseph Holbrooke: Opera 'Bronwen' 1916-1928
Summary    Incomplete autograph manuscript by Josef Charles Holbrooke (1878-1958) of his three-act opera Bronwen (op. 75), being the third and final part of his operatic trilogy The Cauldron of Annwn; Act I is lacking. The libretto, based on the narratives of The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, was written by Holbrooke's patron, Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis, eighth baron Howard de Walden (1880-1946). Mostly composed at Harlech, the work was completed in parts, the Overture (MS 23863E) (published as a piano arrangement in 1917), here dated July 1916 (p. 17), Act II (MS 23864E) dated 5 Aug. 1918 (p. 183), and Act III (MS 23865E) October 12 ([19]24) (p. 295), the latter probably the completion date of the full score (confirmed by the note at the end of the published version of 1929), as opposed to the vocal score of the opera, which was apparently completed at Harlech on 5 February 1920 (see note at end of the published vocal score (1922), and cf. George Lowe, Josef Holbrooke and his work, (London, 1920), p. 273). However, a note added at the end of the Prelude to Act III (MS 23865E, p. 190) suggests that a final revision was made in 1928. The vocal score was first published, with English and German words, as Bronwen: A Music Drama (No. 3) (London, 1922), and the full score in 1929 (see British Library Catalogue of Printed Music); the opera was first performed by the Carl Rosa Opera Company in Huddersfield on 1 Feb. 1929. The manuscript of the second part of the trilogy, Dylan, Son of the Wave, is now BL Add. MS 54339; the whereabouts of that of the first part, The Children of Don, is unknown.
Description    MS 23863: 10 ff. (original pagination 1-17), MS 23864: 46 ff. (original pagination 95-184), MS 23865: 56 ff. (now paginated [185]-295, original pagination 3-7, 192-295). Each volume 480 x 340 mm.

I have contacted the NLW again to let them know that the autograph score of The Children of Don is in fact also in the British Library!

[thalbergmad]

Good work Sir.

Who does one contact for permission to obtain copies of Holbrooke's scores???

Thal

[albion]

Who does one contact for permission to obtain copies of Holbrooke's scores???

Presumably any copyright now resides with Jean Holbrooke, Josef's daughter-in-law. Gareth Vaughan is probably the person who could clarify this for you.

[eschiss1]

Who does one contact for permission to obtain copies of Holbrooke's scores???

Presumably any copyright now resides with Jean Holbrooke, Josef's daughter-in-law. Gareth Vaughan is probably the person who could clarify this for you.

Also depends on a few other things of course- if I understand correctly, in Canada and some other countries his scores aren't in copyright since he died more than 50 years ago; while in the US this is true for any scores first published before 1924. (Not sure what the state of US copyright law is for works remaining in manuscript.)  This does leave the EU and in the US more recently-published works (and possibly those never published at all.)

[albion]

Yes, Holbrooke's music is still technically in copyright within the EU until 2028 (70 years since his death in 1958). If an unpublished score by a deceased author/ composer were to be printed in the EU today, a 25 year copyright term would apply.

In Canada, which applies a blanket 50 years-after-death rule, Holbrooke's music is out of copyright, hence the availability of many of his scores on ISMLP. This time-period also applies to copyright in China, Japan and South Korea.

In the US any work first published before 1923 is in the public domain, but anything published between 1923 and 1977 is subject to a copyright term of 95 years.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I can confirm that Mrs Holbrooke holds the copyright on virtually all her late father-in-law's music, wth some minor exceptions (a few brass band and light music pieces, I think, where the publisher declined to sell back the copyright) - also, the Ballet-Opera "The Enchanter", the copyright of which is held by a big American Co. (can't remember who at the moment) who, when I contacted them, declared they had never heard of the composer or the piece and certainly didn't have any performance materials in their archive. Mind you, I was talking to someone who sounded as if she'd only just grown out of nappies (diapers to you guys in the US).

[Dylan]

I've been lobbying away for years on JH's behalf, and so was naturally delighted when the new disc appeared to complement last years (and this/next years?) CPO disc(s); having said that, I find myself slightly underwhelmed. Quite taken with the tone poem  and the concerto, but (admittedly after a couple of hearings only) the symphony doesn't seem to work at all. The first movement is just bizarre - ok, I'm not keen on musical quotation as a principle -  the second rather brief but successful ...but the finale? Oh dear. Unless I'm missing something it just never seems to get off the ground; twelve minutes of underpowered note spinning. I'll keep trying with it,  but I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that JH was anything but a rigorous symphonic thinker. Anyone else hear it differently? BTW, has anyone heard any of the (3?) Cameo discs of piano music, and have a recommendation?

[albion]

I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that JH was anything but a rigorous symphonic thinker. Anyone else hear it differently? BTW, has anyone heard any of the (3?) Cameo discs of piano music, and have a recommendation?

Hi Dylan, it's great to have another Holbrookean on board! I must say I do agree with you regarding the 4th Symphony - mighty peculiar and not really 'symphonic' but I find that my fascination with Holbrooke as a character leads me to enjoy whatever I hear of his, great or not so great, and the peculiar colour of his music I find ample compensation for rigorous working-out.  I don't think that he was a natural symphonist at all in the sense of an organic builder-up of motifs within a long-term structural frame - the closest he came to convincing use and recurrence of themes within a symphony is probably Apollo and the Seaman, but there the purpose was essentially descriptive of Trench's poem. Holbrooke was an illustrator and a fantasist in music, something which doesn't always sit well with the accepted conventions of symphonic thought.

I can assure you that both the Cameo discs are very well played and recorded - it's worth getting both as the Rhapsodie Etudes are spread across them.