Gustav Holst

**Anima Libera** · 02-11-2017, 04:06 AM

Introduction

There was child prior to our time who was oversensitive, miserable and had weak eyes, thus wore spectacles. His chest was also weak, and no one bothered much with his asthma. He had to rest while climbing stairs. In addition to those ailments, he had neuritis in his right hand - which made long hours of piano practice for him a strain. This child is named Gustav Holst and he grew up to become one of the best composers on all of the planets. What’s funny about what I’ve said is that it’s a pun, it’s alluding to his work, The Planets. Via hard work and perseverance, despite suffering from ailments, he became very successful.

Body

Starting with biography, Gustav Holst was born on 21 September 1874 in Cheltenham, England, the eldest to Adolph and Clara Von Holst - who were of Swedish and Spanish descent, and he grew was raised into the music career.
His father, Adolph, was an accomplished pianist who taught piano.
Gustav's mother died whilst giving birth to him, given that she too was a sickly person - which suggests that Gustav inherited his weakness from his mother.
Like I've said, Gustav was a sickly child with glasses and him in his youth played the piano and the violin; however, he preferred the piano over the violin.
As soon as he discovered the piano, his fingers dragged him to the piano.
His father was determined to make young Gustav a good pianist, but even in his youth Holst was troubled with neuritis in his hands which made his long hours of practice a severe strain.
As he grew older, Gustav tried his hand at composition but failed to gain scholarships to the Royal College of Music and various other colleges in London.
In college, Holst studied composition with a man by the name of Charles Stanford - Although he often disagreed with Stanford's opinions, Holst was always grateful to him, especially for teaching him how to become his own critic.
As a student, Gustav Holst was frugal, he never smoked nor drank, and since leaving home he had also become a strict vegetarian - but vegetarianism was not encouraged in his cheap lodgings in the 1890's.
Since he was never given a completely nourishing meal, his eyes became very weak and his hand remained in constant pain.
Yet despite all of the physical problems and his extremely shy and solitary nature, he was already showing an absorbing interest in other people.
He hated conventionality and rejoiced in ideas he found fantastic or humorous and he enjoyed a good laugh.

His Works

Gustav throughout his life produced many pieces, and sometimes was impressed by his work, sometimes not.
Starting with his most renowned work, The Planets, The Planets was his work that he conceived in 1913 partly as a result of interest in astrology and also his determination to produce a large-scale orchestral work, following the failure of Phantasies.
Holst began composing The Planets in 1914, which is a series of songs representing their respective planets; however, each song was not written in order according to the position of the planet's, well, most of the time.
Mars was written first, followed by "Venus", "Jupiter", "Saturn", "Uranus", and "Neptune".
"Pluto" was not included because it wasn't discovered until the 1930s. "Mercury" was the last to be finished.
Another piece of his works, A Choral Fantasia, Op. 51, is a work Gustav Holst composed in 1930, setting a selection of verses from Robert Bridges' Ode to Music.
Featuring a concertante organ part, A Choral Fantasia also involves a soprano soloist, chorus, string orchestra, brass and percussion.
These are merely two examples of his work, here’s the last one - Holst's first major work after The Planets was the Hymn of Jesus, completed in 1917.
The words are from a Gnostic text, the apocryphal Acts of St John, using a translation from the Greek which Holst prepared with assistance from Clifford Bax and Jane Joseph. (Play Sample of “Mars”, from The Planets.)

Legacy

"Holst's influence is lasting in the work of all of us who value directness and sincerity and who view music not so much a secret preserve for the leisured few as a vital part of everyday life" - A tribute from Edmund Rubbra.
According to a composer, Vaughan Williams, Holst was his greatest influence on his music. Other later composers, Michael Tippett, is a Holst's most significant artistic successor, both in terms of compositional style and because of Tippett, who succeeded Holst as director of music at Morley College, maintained the spirit of Holst's music there.
There were many other English composers who owe Holst for his influence upon them, including William Walton and Benjamin Britten.
Holst was a composer for the people, who believed it was a composer’s duty to provide music for purposes such as festivals, ceremonies, Christmas carols, or simple hymn tunes.
Thus, many people who've never heard his biggest works did derive pleasure from his small ones such as the carol - "In the Bleak Midwinter".

Citations

“Gustav Holst”.
Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Holst

"Gustav Holst (1874–1934)." Gustav Holst (1874–1934). 11 Mar 2005. Web. 2 Feb 2017. <http://www.gustavholst.info/>.