HumanitiesWeb.org - The Mystical Gustav Holst [Biography]
HumanitiesWeb HumanitiesWeb
WelcomeHistoryLiteratureArtMusicPhilosophyResourcesHelp
Periods Alphabetically Nationality Topics Themes Forms Glossary
pixel

Holst
Index
Biography
Selected Works
Quotations
Recordings
Suggested Reading
Other Resources
Chronology
Related Materials

Search

Get Your Degree!

Find schools and get information on the program that’s right for you.

Powered by Campus Explorer

& etc
FEEDBACK

(C)1998-2012
All Rights Reserved.

Site last updated
28 October, 2012
Real Time Analytics

Gustav Holst
Biography



"There is no room in music for the second-rate...it might as well be the nineteenth-rate."

Through much of the 18th and 19th centuries, English music had been in the doldrums. During this period of time, all the greatest composers, from J.S.Bach and Handel to Wagner and Verdi, were Germans, Austrians, or Italians. The situation changed with Sir Edward Elgar's great contribution to classical music during the early years of the 20th century. After him, a succession of other English composers made a name for themselves in the world music scene.

Gustav Holst was part of this English musical Renaissance. Born 21 September, 1874, in the elegant English spa town of Cheltenham; Holst was the son of an English mother and a Swedish music teacher. In 1893 young Holst entered the Royal College of Music, where he met Ralph Vaughan Williams, who was to become a close personal friend and a decided influence on the composer's work. His friendship with Williams was based, in part, on a common interest in such diverse subjects as old folk songs (he and Williams travelled around England collecting them) and more exotic subjects such as astrology, mythology and Eastern mysticism. His interest in Indian Hinduism even led him to learn to read the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. These esoteric influences at times lend an ethereal and otherworldly, somewhat "foreign" flavour to music that has would otherwise sound very "English". Evidence of this is seen in his suite The Planets - an orchestral showpiece that is one of the most popular of all concert works - convey this mystical, timeless sound. This is what gives Holst such an interesting and individual place in 20th century music.

To earn a living, Holst worked a music teacher at various London schools. Previous to this, he played the trombone for Carl Rosa opera company. He was an inspiring conductor and believed that every pupil who wished to play in the orchestra should be given the opportunity - regardless of ability. Following his appointment as director at St. Paul's Girl' School in Hammersmith in 1905, his encouragement achieved surprisingly good results from some unpromising players. The composer wrote many works for his pupils, of which the St. Paul's Suite is the most popular. In this respect, Holst's career was similar to the great 18th-century composer Antonio Vivaldi. For fifteen years, Vivaldi taught the violin at the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls in Venice, and wrote many of his five hundred concertos for orchestra there.

In 1901, Holst married Isobel Harrison. Their daughter, Imogen, was born in 1907. Imogen also devoted her life to music - after attending St. Paul's School, she studied composition at the Royal College of Music, then became Artistic Director of the Dartington Hall Arts Centre. For many years Imogen worked with Sir Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival. But she is best known for her books on music, especially the music of her father.

Holst composed The Planets between 1914 and 1916. By the time he completed it, Europe was already ravaged by war. The inspiration for the suite came not from the planets of the solar system, but from astrology, in which Holst had began by attaching his own subtitles to each planet. Then, as Holst's daughter later wrote, he simply "let the music have its way with him". The distinguished English conductor Sir Adrian Boult was a great champion of Holst's music, and it was Boult who conducted the first public performance of The Planets in London in 1920, and he later became the work's most celebrated interpreter. With Boult's help, The Planets soon made Holst famous world-wide. This came as a great surprise to the modest composer, who never considered it to be his best work.

In 1923, while conducting, Holst fell from a stage and hit his head. The delayed effects of concussion forced him into temporary retirement the following year. By 1927, Holst was composing again, and was honoured by his hometown, Cheltenham, when they organised a Holst Festival.

Gustav Holst died 25 May, 1934.

contributed by Gifford, Katya

Personae

Terms Defined

Referenced Works