Gustav Theodore Holst

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Brilliant

the trombone is NOT a simpler instrument . Do you have any idea how hard it is to get the slide into the right position to get the right note? It doesn't have specific keys or strings like a piano or guitar. Holst was pretty brilliant if you ask me. The Planets is incredible and it's amazing that he kept going even with his medical problems.

[by “Anonymous” on 2010-12-14 19:49:29]

NO NO NO

Holst had a medical condition that made him unable to play instruments like the piano, guitar, etc. He played a simpler instrument, trombone.

[by “Anonymous” on 2010-04-23 08:18:25]

crazy

Gustav holst was a famous composer he also played piano { : yea so any way i dont know that much about him sooo yea

[by “Anonymous” on 2010-03-25 16:10:27]

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News for Holst

BBC discovers film about Gustav Holst
[posted 27 July 2009]
An unfinished film project about Gustav Holst in the 1970s was found back in the BBC archives. The color footage includes interviews with Holst's daughter Imogen as well as with composers Herbert Howells and Edmund Rubbra.
An e-mail from a member of the original production team from the 1970s lead to the discovery of the film. David Bailey of BBC Gloucestershire, who helped unearth the archives, said: "It's amazing to think that this footage has been hidden away all this time."
Selections from the discovered film can be seen here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/8165835.stm.
[Source: news.bbc.co.uk]

Music

(contributed by Kenric Taylor <ktaylorwso.williams.edu>)

Works include

Chorus

Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda: 1st-4th Groups (1908-1912)
First Choral Symphony (1923-1924)
The Cloud Messenger (1910-1912)
The Evening Watch (1924)
The Hymn of Jesus (1917)
Nunc Dimittis (1915)
O Spiritual Pilgrim (1932)
Ode to Death (1919)
Six Choral Folksongs (1916)
Songs from "the Princess" (female voices) (1905)
This Have I Done for My True Love (1916)
Two Psalms (1912)

Opera

Savitri (1908-1909)
The Wandering Scholar (1929-1930)

Orchestra

Brook Green Suite (1933)
Edgon Heath (1927)
The Planets (1914-1916)
St. Paul’s Suite (1913)
Two Songs without Words (1906)

Wind Band

Moorside Suite
Suite No. 1 in E flat (1909)
Suite No. 2 in F (1911)
Hammersmith (1930)

Life

(contributed by Kenric Taylor <ktaylorwso.williams.edu>)

Gustav Holst was born into a very musical family; as a child, he was taught the piano, organ and trombone. He studied at the Royal College of Music, and this is where he met his lifelong friend Ralph Vaughan Williams. Stricken with neuritis in his right hand, he was forced to give up the piano, but this did not deter his composing. His was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and started his composing career, creating little jigs based on other friends poems.

In 1905, he was named director of music at St. Paul’s Girls School, and he held this position until his death. He was an avid Henry Purcell admirer, giving the first performance of Purcell’s "Fairy Queen" since 1697 and thus was very instrumental in the Purcell revival. Holst was an intense nationalist, and after his rejection from the Royal military because of his neuritis and bad eyesight, he became a conductor of the military band, and toured much of Europe supporting the British through music.

In 1914, Holst began work on The Planets, and this was to become his most famous piece. However he was much more a choral composer than orchestral. His Hymn of Jesus exemplifies much more intensity than much of his other works. Holst died in 1934 following an operation to remove an ulcer. Through the work of his daughter, Imogen, much of his music that would have been forgotten has been brought to the public.