Joseph Holbrooke: Dramatic Overture "1914", for brass band

[violinconcerto]

I recently found a manuscript score of the composition "1914, for brass band" by Joseph Holbrooke. This work was composed around 1920 and later revised and retitled to "Clive of India", a title under which it is known today. This revised version was published in 1940 and was test piece of the British Open Brass Band Championship, at Belle Vue, Manchester, in September 1940. It was performed from time to time in the 1940s to 70s, but then it fell more and more into oblivion.
I have now typeset the original version and one can find a score and sound sample on my website:

https://www.tobias-broeker.de/rare-manuscripts/joseph-holbrooke/

Best,
Tobias

[Gareth Vaughan]

This music is still in copyright in the UK. While it is very nice to have a typeset score I think permission should have been sought from the copyright holder, Mrs Jean Holbrooke, before publishing it. I can give you Mrs Holbrooke's contact details. May I suggest that it would be a nice gesture if you sent her a printed hard copy of the typeset score, together with a set of parts, and I strongly recommend that you do not publish this piece without her permission.

[eschiss1]

Agreed. It will leave UK copyright 70 years after the composer's death, under current law. Since the revised version was (first) published in 1940 = after 1922, it is probably in copyright in the United States too, depending on whether the copyright was properly renewed by the publisher (as usually happens, but there have been exceptions; one can check the 1960s Catalog of Copyright Entries maintained by the Library of Congress to look for renewal entries, for example - should be around 1965 or so, I think...)

[violinconcerto]

I already contacted both Mrs. Holbrooke and her son several times, but received no answer from her and just an email from him telling me that they all have serious jobs and have no time to dig through boxes of old Holbrooke manuscripts to give me any more information about the work. I wrote two messages to point their attention to the actual situation on my website and to get permission for a complete publication, but received no answers. Therefore I decided to publish just a sample! Which is in fact the first two pages of the full score. I thought that would be appropriate to promote the work without infringe the copyrights.
But, Gareth, if you have better connections to the Holbrooke family and they will answer you, feel free to let them know about my site and if they want me to leave it this way, delete the score sample or - may - publish the complete score.

Best,
Tobias

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'll talk to Jean Holbrooke next week and get back to you.

[Double-A]

Can anyone enlighten us what about 1914 this work is memorializing?  An odd year to choose I think. 

[eschiss1]

btw it's his Op.96b. In its form as Clive of India it was completed perhaps in 1934 and premiered September 1940.

The overture is sometimes called '1914-18', so maybe it's just WWI in general...