Full Description
This is the first scholarly work to document the musical life of Joseph Holbrooke, one of Britain's most prolific and controversial composers during the first half of the twentieth century. Holbrooke was outspoken on many issues, including the maligned fortunes of British composers, which he believed were brought about by apathy and indifference on the part of critics and the public. Despite doubts in various quarters over Holbrooke's ability to forge a unique compositional idiom, many of his works were performed to critical acclaim in Britain, Europe, and the United States. Today, Holbrooke's music is increasingly enjoyed and recorded.
Joseph Holbrooke: Composer, Critic, and Musical Patriot opens with a biographical overview of Holbrooke that concentrates on his relationship with Granville Bantock and Wales and the role that Lord Howard de Walden played in Holbrooke's work and development. Contributors offer studies of a selection of repertory by Holbrooke, including his chamber music, the operas Pierrot and Pierrette and The Enchanted Garden, and his tone poem "The Raven." The final chapter describes Holbrooke's patriotism by examining his book Contemporary British Composers, which was published in 1925. Included is an appendix that provides the first comprehensive and corrected list of Holbrooke's compositions.
This book will interest not only musicologists, musicians and listeners interested in the repertory of the British classical music tradition but also scholars and general readers interested in the ways Celticism, poetic inspiration, and nationalist ideology were expressed in the work of classical composers in the early twentieth century.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Chronology of Holbrooke's Life and Music
Chapter 1: Situating Holbrooke in British Musical History
Paul Watt and Anne-Marie Forbes
Chapter 2: Joseph Holbrooke: A Life in Outline
Rob Barnett
Chapter 3: Friendship with Granville Bantock
David Craik
Chapter 4: Celtic Connections and T.E. Ellis
Anne-Marie Forbes
Chapter 5: Holbrooke's Chamber Music and the Specter of Mass Culture
Paul Hopwood
Chapter 6: Holbrooke and Chamber Opera: Pierrot and Pierette and The Enchanted Garden
Paul Rodmell
Chapter 7: Holbrooke and Poe Revisited: Refiguring The Raven as the Musical Uncanny
Michael Allis
Chapter 8: A "Nationalist in Art": Holbrooke's Contemporary British Composers (1925)
Paul Watt
Appendix 1: Catalog of Works
Appendix 2: Music Inspired by Welsh Subjects
Appendix 3: Discography
References
Index
List of Contributors
