| Description | Holbrooke addresses his letters 'Dear Gran', and the correspondence is informal and friendly. Many of the letters are sent from Harlech in North Wales, where Holbrooke had a house. The correspondence contains often detailed discussions of Holbrooke's compositions and how they should be performed, as well as comments by Holbrooke on Bantock's performances.
Holbrooke discusses the problems he is having with the music publishers, Novello in 2/6, /2/7 and /2/18. Item 2/9 is a letter addressed to Holbrooke from O. M. Kling, proprietor of J. & W. Chester, [?music publisher], rejecting his proposal, which was presumably to offer his works for publication. Kling explains that the publishing business is unstable due to the war. This letter is with an envelope addressed to Bantock at Elvetham Road, Birmingham, and it would seem that Holbrooke passed the letter on to him. Items 2/12 and 2/13 also relate to a dispute with Novello over payment for the hire of music scores returned by Bantock. 2/15 contains comments on the difficulty Holbrooke has in promoting his works: 'Murdoch [?William Murdoch, 1888-1942, pianist] is no friend - & never plays any British music.....I am not so fortunate as you, you know.....Why doesn't he play my concerts'. Items 2/2, 2/3, and 2/4 are newspaper cuttings dating from 1915, comprising 2 letters from Josef Holbrooke about the importance of playing British music, especially at at time of war, and an article about the encouragement of British music. |