Joseph Holbrooke Composer, Critic, and Musical Patriot [Hardcover]

This book is more of a bibliographic than biographic entry--a collection of Holbrooke articles by various scholars. Future scholars of Holbrooke will be in its debt. . . .These articles add up to an interesting portrait of a composer Dimitri Mitropoulos called 'the English Berlioz'.Joseph Holbrooke: Composer, Critic and Musical Patriot is the first book to provide a detailed examination of the composer. . . .[The book] will be of considerable interest to a surprisingly large group of people. Firstly, there are the musical historians for whom this volume will be invaluable in gaining a greater understanding of British music, especially in the first half of the twentieth century. . . .Students of Celtic and Welsh history and arts will require this book as an essential adjunct to their understanding of the influence of that nations history, nationalist ideology and folklore on the London-born composer. The more general reader will find the examination of Holbrookes life of great interest as well as the examination of some of his key chamber and orchestral works prove helpful in gaining an understanding of one of the most important, but neglected, if somewhat wayward, of British composers.This is the first scholarly work to document the musical contribution of Joseph Holbrooke, one of Britains most controversial composers during the first half of the twentieth century. Paul Watt and Anne-Marie Forbes have gathered a team of scholars who focuses on the musical and literary life of the composer.This is the first scholarly work to document the musical life of Joseph Holbrooke, one of Britains 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 Holbrookes ability to forge a unique compositional idlcÄ