Josef Holbrooke on William J Fenney (1891-1957) and a Catalogue

The final instalment in my brief appreciation of Birmingham-born composer William J. Fenney is a little problematic. It consists of Josef (or Jospeh) Holbrooke’s assessment and works list included in his Contemporary British Composers (London, Cecil Palmer, 1925) 

As little background on this volume will be of interest. This book was one of the first musical textbooks I purchased in the early 1970s. It was an ex-lib copy founds in a second-hand bookshop in Llandudno, priced 20p. Much as I enjoyed this book when I first discovered it, I did feel that there was something a little xenophobic about it. I guess that Holbrooke’s attempt to categorise composers by their relative Britishness seemed to me taking music nationalism too far. I accept that he wanted to campaign for “the advancement of British music that is free from foreign influence.”  Yet it is one thing to bemoan the lack of attention to native-born composers by artists, benefactors and institutions: it is another to suggest that there is a hierarchy of “degrees of Britishness” which creates various classes of composer. For Holbrooke, the more British the better?

Josef Holbrooke divided the composers in his study into three groups: for example the first had “solid British names and parentages and often training.” It featured Edward Elgar, Granville Bantock, Frank Bridge and Rutland Boughton. The second group included Frederick Delius, Gustav Holst, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Eugene Goossens of whom “none can pretend that those are of British parentage…” The third group to a significant extent defies categorisation but “speculates” on eight younger men including Arthur Bliss, Herbert Howells, William Baines and John Foulds. Interestingly, Holbrooke does not define what he believes to be a “British style.” And finally the composer himself was sometimes dubbed as ‘The Cockney Wagner,’ so, even he was not beyond foreign influence!

The issue is well-summed up by the critic Jack Westrup who stated, “in appraising the work of our fellow countrymen there is always the danger of an aggressive nationalism.” On the other hand it is possible to mitigate Holbrooke’s “aggressive nationalism” and examine the “ideology that underpinned the expression of his hopes for a better musical future, in which British composers would be celebrated…and the British public…would be patriotic and proud.”

On a practical level, it is not wise to take all Holbrooke’s historical facts as read. His works’ lists have been proved to be inaccurate. But taken in the round, he gives the reader a good place to begin their studies, especially for a composer who had been subsequently ignored by succeeding generations.

At this stage, I have taken Fenney’s Catalogue of Works printed in Holbrooke’s volume as “read.” Many of Fenney's works are published, the remainder is in MS. I have made a few alterations to the format and have sought to provide dates and opus numbers where possible, which Holbrooke omits. I have listed several pieces which have been published but were not included by Holbrooke. Where possible the publisher is included. I have consulted WorldCat, the British Library,  Birmingham University, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music catalogues for further information. This is a work in progress. 

Josef Holbrooke gave a very short introduction to the composer (op.cit. p.264):

Of the real youngsters we have yet to make acquaintance with - there is the introspective gift of W. J. FENNEY of Birmingham. His Trio alone will place him in high estimation among musicians. Already he has a personality in music which cannot be acquired, neither can it be bought. It is there; or it is not. Our British music is not overflowing with personalities. Fenney's music is intrepid, malleable and interwoven in a charming way. There is much of his chamber music to which I am very susceptible, and a few small orchestral works which deserve every encouragement. I understand this composer is desperately poor in this world’s goods and health. A pity such things can be in our days of millionaires.”

I have examined the score of the above mentioned Trio and concur with Holbrooke’s assessment.

William J. Fenney: Catalogue of Works:

Opera

Midsummer-Night's Dream MS?

Orchestral

Symphonic Poem for orchestra, op.6 (1909-10) MS

Pastoral: for small orchestra, op.5 (Stainer & Bell) (1916)

Tragic Poem: for orchestra, op.11 (Stainer & Bell) (c.1916)

In Shadow: poem for orchestra, op.15 (Stainer & Bell) (1915)

Dawn, op.16: poem for orchestra (Stainer & Bell) (c.1915)

In the Woods for string orchestra, J. W. Chester (1930)

Romance: for piano, orchestra and organ. (Score and parts MS.)

Romance: small orchestra MS ((this may refer to the above work)

Vision of Ancient Empire: Three Poems for Orchestra (Stainer & Bell) may have included “Nineveh”

Chamber Music

Refrain: for violin and piano, (Stainer and Bell) (c.1915)

Trio No.1 for piano, violin and cello in G Major, op.20 (J. W. Chester) (1916)

Quintet in E Major: Two violins, viola, 'cello and piano. MS.

Duet for Viola and Piano MS

Rhapsody: for cello and piano 1. Romanza, 2. Refrain, 3. Pastorale (Stainer & Bell):

Quartet in F for two violins, viola and 'cello MS

Quartet in G (unfinished) for two violins, viola and cello MS

Petite Suite in C for two violins, viola, cello and piano MS

Phantasy Trio for violin, cello and piano (date and publisher unknown)

Part-Songs

Music, when Soft Voices die, op.9 no.2 (Percy Bysshe Shelley) (Stainer & Bell) (1915)

Sea-Bird's Song, op.9 no.3 Longfellow (Stainer & Bell) (1915)

Flower Fairies (Philip Burke Marston) op.9, no.3 (6 parts) for Ladies Voices (J Curwen & Sons) (1915)

Claribel (Alfred, Lord Tennyson) (Stainer & Bell) (1919)

‘Tis a Woodland Enchanted (James Russell Lowell) MS

Songs

Sands o' Dee, op.14 (Charles Kingsley) (J. W. Chester) (1915)

Bugles of Dreamland, op.6 no.4 (Fiona Macleod) (J. W. Chester) (1918)

Shed no tear, (John Keats) (Boosey & Co.) (1920)

La Belle Dame Sans Merci (John Keats) (Boosey & Co) (?)

Faery Song (John Keats) (Chester & Co.) (?)

Invocation of Peace (Fiona Macleod) MS

Last Invocation (Walt Whitman) MS

Dreams to Sell (T. Lovell Beddoes) MS

Dream Wind (Fiona Macleod) MS

White Rose (Fiona Macleod)  MS

Vesper (Fiona Macleod) MS

I Remember (?) MS

Nocturne (MS)

Four Songs op.4, 1. To the night (Percy Bysshe Shelley); Fairy Song (John Keats); From oversea (Fiona Macleod); La belle dame sans merci (John Keats) MSS (Presumably the two Keats songs were published separately).

Pianoforte

Fantasies for piano (Swan & Co.) (??)

Dance of Joy for piano, (Stainer and Bell) (1916)

In the Woods for pianoforte, op.13, no.2 (J. W. Chester) (c.1916)

In Early Spring for piano, op.13: 1. Romance; 2. In the woods; 3. On a hillside (J. W. Chester) (1915?)

Fieldside Miniature Suite for pianoforte 1. Pastoral 2. Wildflowers, 3. Romance (Swan & Co.) (c.1921)

Chimes for piano (Swan & Co.) (1921)

Wildflowers for piano (Swan & Co.) (1921)

Ten Pastorals for piano solo, op.2 MS

Sonata in B flat for piano, op.5 (1909) MS

Unspecified

Romance in Early Spring, MS.

Prelude, Aria and Tarantella, MS.