Joseph Charles Holbrooke, sometimes given as Josef Holbrooke, (5 July 18785 August 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist.
Life
Early years Joseph Holbrooke was born Joseph Charles Holbrook in Croydon, Surrey.The family name was Holbrook according to the censuses for Scotland (1881) and England (1891 and 1901) His father, also named Joseph, was a music hall musician and teacher, and his mother Helen was a Scottish singer. He had two older sisters (Helen and Mary) and two younger brothers (Robert and James), both of whom died in infancy.The family were living in Edinburgh at the time of the 1881 census The family travelled around the country, with both parents participating in musical entertainments.Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 2) Holbrooke's mother died in 1880 from tuberculosis,Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 2) leaving the family in the care of Joseph senior, who settled the family in London and took the position of pianist at Collins's Music Hall, Islington, and later at the Bedford Music Hall. Holbrooke was taught to play the piano and the violin by his father,Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 2) who was not averse to the use of violence as a method of instruction,McNaught, W.G: Josef Holbrooke The Musical Times, 1 April 1913, reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 46)Dagg, Norman: Josef Holbrooke and his music, reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 112) and played in music halls himselfLowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 2) before entering the Royal Academy of Music as a student in 1893, where he studied under Frederick Corder for composition and Frederick Westlake for piano.
Whilst at the academy he composed several works, chiefly piano miniatures, songs and some chamber music, which were performed at student concerts:Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, pp. 4–6) at one recital, he substituted one of his own compositions in preference to Schumann's Toccata, incurring the wrath of the Principal, Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie.Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 5) He won several Academy prizes, including the Potter Exhibition for pianoforte (1895),The Prize Board at the Royal Academy of Music gives the date 1895 and the composer's name as Joseph C. Holbrook the Sterndale Bennett Scholarship (awarded on 29 April 1896),The Musical Courier 14 May 1896, p. 9 the Heathcote Long Prize for pianoforte (1896)The Prize Board at the Royal Academy of Music gives the date 1896 and the composer's name as Joseph Holbrook and, in his final year (with the Pantomime Suite for strings), the Charles Lucas Prize for composition (1897).The Prize Board at the Royal Academy of Music gives the date 1897 and the composer's name as Joseph C. HolbrookLowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 7)
After graduating Holbrooke sought a variety of occupations. In 1898 he undertook a tour of Scotland accompanying the music hall singer Arthur Lloyd,Wyndham, Henry Saxe: Who's Who in music (Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1913, p. 107)Dagg, Norman: Josef Holbrooke and his music, reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 113) but the venture failed and he was forced to return to live with his father in London.Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 8) He then moved out of the family home to Harringay where he began to teach music privately, but once again without financial success.Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 8) Around this time he decided to change his name from Holbrook to Holbrooke,The programme for the first performance of his orchestral poem The Raven at the Crystal Palace, London, on 3 March 1900 gives the composer's name as Joseph C. HolbrookeEngland 1911 census probably in order to avoid confusion as his father was also still teaching privately. He subsequently adopted the variant Josef Holbrooke which he continued to use inconsistently throughout the remainder of his life.
Responding to an advertisement in Musical News, Holbrooke travelled to Horncastle in Lincolnshire where he briefly lived with and served as musical companion to the Reverend Edward Stewart Bengough (1839-1920).Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, pp. 8–9)Dagg, Norman: Josef Holbrooke and his music, reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 114) He was soon travelling again, conducting a touring pantomime (Aladdin and the Lamp) during the 1899-1900 Christmas season. Once more, the enterprise collapsed and Holbrooke was left stranded and virtually destitute, at which point Bengough sent him money to enable him to return to London.Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 9)Dagg, Norman: Josef Holbrooke and his music, reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 115)
Success
Whilst on tour, Holbrooke had sent the score of his orchestral poem The Raven to August Manns, conductor at the Crystal Palace. Manns accepted the work for performance and gave the premiere on 3 March 1900, whilst later that same year the orchestral variations on Three Blind Mice were also heard (Queen's Hall Promenade Concert, conducted by Henry Wood, 8 November 1900). In 1901 he won the Lesley Alexander Prize for chamber music with his Sextet in F minor and also received an invitation from Granville Bantock to become a member of the staff at the Birmingham and Midland Institute School of Music. He accepted the position, living with the Bantocks whilst teaching at the institution,Anderton, H. Orsmond: The Troll-Piper (Musical Opinion), reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 62) but rapidly became dissatisfied with the routine and returned to London in 1902.Anderton, H. Orsmond: The Troll-Piper (Musical Opinion), reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 64)
There followed a decade of prestigious commissions and performances, with notable works including the poem for chorus and orchestra Queen Mab (Leeds Festival, conducted by the composer, 6 October 1904), the orchestral poem Ulalume (Queen's Hall, conducted by the composer, 26 November 1904), the scena for baritone and orchestra Marino Faliero (Bristol Festival, conducted by the composer, 12 October 1905), the Bohemian Songs for baritone and orchestra (Norwich Festival, conducted by the composer, 25 October 1905), the poem for chorus and orchestra The Bells (Birmingham Festival, conducted by Hans Richter, 3 October 1906), the orchestral suite Les Hommages (Queen's Hall Promenade Concert, conducted by Henry Wood, 25 October 1906) and the choral symphony Homage to E.A. Poe (two movements first performed at the Bristol Festival, 16 October 1908). During this period Holbrooke also won a further prize, this time with his Fantasie Quartet, Op.17b entered for the 1905 chamber music competition initiated by Walter Willson Cobbett.Out of sixty-seven entrants, the first prize was awarded to William Hurlstone, the second to Frank Bridge and the third to Haydn Wood. Subsidiary prizes were awarded to Holbrooke, Harry Waldo Warner (1874-1945) and James Friskin (1886-1967)
In 1907 Holbrooke was approached by the poet Herbert Trench who wished the composer to set his extended poem on immortality Apollo and the Seaman.Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 20) This Holbrooke duly did, although only the final section of the poem (The Embarkation) is actually sung (by a male chorus), the rest of the score being a purely orchestral illustration of the verses. The completed work, styled "An Illuminated Symphony", was first performed at Queen's Hall on 20 January 1908, conducted by Thomas Beecham: on this occasion the orchestra and chorus were hidden from the audience behind an elaborate screen whilst the text of the poem was projected onto the screen using lantern slides at corresponding points in the music.Lowe, George: Josef Holbrooke and his work (London: Kegan Paul, 1920, p. 21) The rehearsals for Apollo and the Seaman were attended by Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden who shortly after the first performance approached Holbrooke with one of his own poems, entitled Dylan - Son of the Wave:Baughan, G: How Josef Holbrooke wrote "Dylan" (reproduced in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, p. 74) this resulted in the composition of the opera Dylan, first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, conducted by Artur Nikisch, on 4 July 1914. The staging included another technological wonder:
"in this work, in order to get convincing flights of wild fowl, films were made in the Outer Hebrides and projected on to the stage. This, of course, was in the days of the silent film, when there was no means of deadening the whirr or hum of the projector and the films themselves resolved into a series of flicks. The scoring, however, was vivid enough to cover the sounds, and this incipient film music was infinitely more successful than some of the over-vaunted high-level scores heard to-day. The theatre, however, was not ready for such an innovation, and the extra-musical effects were not taken seriously."Demuth, Norman: Musical trends in the 20th century (London: Rockliff, 1952, pp. 111–112)
Collaboration on two further operas, The Children of Don (first performed at the London Opera House, conducted by Arthur Nikisch, on 15 June 1912 - postponed from 12 June) and Bronwen, brought about the completion of Holbrooke's most ambitious project, a trilogy under the collective title The Cauldron of Annwn setting Scott-Ellis' versions of tales from the Welsh Mabinogion. Until his death in 1946, Scott-Ellis effectively acted as patron to Holbrooke, subsidising performances and publication of many of his works.Swaffer, Hannen: Josef Holbrooke (The Graphic, 1922, reprinted in Josef Holbrooke - Various appreciations by many authors (London: Rudall Carte, 1937, pp. 19–24)
Throughout this period, Holbrooke also enjoyed a successful career as a virtuoso concert pianist. Besides his own compositions, his repertoire included the Toccata by Robert Schumann, Islamey by Mily Balakirev, Scriabin's Piano Sonata No.1, the fantasie Africa for piano and orchestra by Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2.Holbrooke, Joseph: Josef Holbrooke as pianist (London: Modern Music Library, n.d. [c.1947])Lloyd, Stephen: Sir Dan Godfrey - champion of British composers (London: Thames Publishing, 1995, pp.58, 152)
Controversy
In 1902 Holbrooke had begun his own series of chamber music concerts to promote his music alongside new works by his British contemporaries. Audiences would regularly find admonishing notes printed in their programmes:
"Mr. JOSEF HOLBROOKE steps forward somewhat adventurously with his 12th year of endeavour for some Modern English Music to an apathetic public, and hopes to receive as few blows as possible (with the usual financial loss) in return."Programme note for a Holbrooke concert given at the Aeolian Hall, London, 31 January 1913