Gustav Holst

Gustav Theodore Holst was a notable English composer. He was born Gustavus Theodor von Holst to a German family, on September 21, 1874, at 4 Pittville Terrace. Holst was born to a musical family. His father Adolph was an organist, and his mother Clara was a singer before she died in 1882. When Holst was eight years old, his family moved to 1 Vittoria Walk in Cheltenham. As a child, he learned to play both piano and violin, and began to compose at the young age of twelve. Later, Holst s father taught him to play trombone, in an effort to alleviate his asthma. As a child, he attended the Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys. The Royal College of Music recognized Gustav Holst s talent and offered him a scholarship. This is where Gustav Holst met Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the two would be good friends for the rest of their lives, greatly influencing each other s music. Once he graduated from the Royal College of Music with flying colors, Holst proceeded to support himself as a trombonist. He disliked his repetitive trombone pieces and eventually quit the job as his musical composition became more successful. On June 22, 1901, Holst married Emily Harrison. They had one child, Imogen Holst, who would later follow in her father s footsteps as a composer. To provide a stable income to raise a family, Holst became a teacher of music at St. Paul s Girls School in 1905. In 1907, Holst became the director of music of Morley

College in 1907. He enjoyed this job much more than his previous one as a trombonist, and kept them for the most of the rest of his life. Many of Holst s early compositions were based on the poet Walt Whitman, of whom he was a great fan. He also acquired an interest in Indian religion, leading him to write several pieces based on Hindu texts. At the turn of the century, old English folksongs became popular in London, and both Holst and Vaughan Williams admired these melodies and frequently incorporated them in their compositions. Holst also enjoyed traveling. He travelled to Italy, France, the Middle East, Spain, and Algeria, and wrote many pieces inspired by sights while travelling. On a trip to Spain with his friend Clifford Bax, Bax introduced Holst to astrology, which would later inspire his most famous, seven-movement suite, The Planets, Op.32. Work on The Planets started after Holst moved to a college in Thaxted, Essex. Each of the seven movements of The Planets corresponded to the astrological representations of each planet except for Earth, which does not have an astrological representation. The piece was first composed for keyboard, but was unpopular, so Holst wrote another version for a large orchestra, which is where the piece gained its massive popularity. On September 29, 1918, the orchestral version of this piece premiered in the Queen s Hall. It was not a big occasion; there was a small audience of around 250 invited. The first public concert was given in London on February 27, 1919, but only five of the seven movements were played. A full performance of all seven movements was not given to the public until November 15, 1920.

In 1914, World War I began, and Holst tried to enlist, but was rejected on account of his asthma. Holst also changed his name from Gustav Theodore von Holst to Gustav Theodore Holst, dropping the von due to anti-German sentiment. Even though he could not participate in the war, he wrote music featuring patriotic and English melodies, which demanded across England. After World War I, Holst s music was widely renowned throughout England and Europe. In 1923, Holst quit his teaching job and spent the rest of his life composing music. Gustav Holst spent most of the last eleven years of his life recording and publicizing his music, taking advantage of emerging technologies. During this period, he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and recorded many of his most famous pieces, including the planets, the Beni Mora suite, and the Marching Song. These recordings were sold around the world, earning him worldwide recognition of his talent. Holst had always lived with poor health. He suffered from a nerve problem in his right arm, bad eyesight, and poor stomach health. On the 25th of May 1934, Gustav Theodore Holst died after stomach surgery in London. Gustav Holst left the world after composing more than 200 works, and changing the face of music.