A Biography of Gustav Holst
Part
1: 1874-1902
by David Trippett
Preface
Described by Vaughan Williams as 'a great composer, a great
teacher, and a great friend', the life of Gustav Holst presents
a fascinating perspective
on music and musicians in society during the late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century. The prejudices against which Holst struggled as a
provincial English composer reveal a divided musico-social
fabric in England, that
of enthusiastic domestic amateurism as opposed to conservative and perceptibly
'foreign' professionalism. His was a career that spanned the transition
from the age of predominant domestic music-making to that of the gramophone
and the 'wireless'. These technological innovations allowed for a wider
audience to hear a greater and steadily growing repertoire of 'art' music
though it also began to have a debilitating affect on amateur music-making.
It seems that Holst was happy with a foot in both camps and became something
of a protagonist in defending the individual's right for music to be
performed and enjoyed at any level. Terrible world events inevitably
had an effect
on the arts within society, and the activities of continental composers
such as Schoenberg and Stravinsky brought into question accepted conceptions
of what music is and how it functions within a society. The combined
effects of conservative attitudes, stagnation of the concert
repertoire and the
near extirpation of the native folk-song tradition in England through
the effects of the industrial revolution resulted in great
public uncertainty
as change after change uprooted accepted beliefs and traditions.
Although now world renowned, principally
as the composer of an astrologically inspired orchestral
suite The Planets, Holst's career embraced the twin
disciplines of tuition and composition almost equally,
though this was perhaps born more of necessity and circumstance
than of will and predisposition. His music was written
for
a rich diversity of media and in a number of innovative
and highly original genres such as the Terzetto for
flute, oboe, and viola. His approach to harmony (1)
and predilection for asymmetrical time signatures speaks
of his individuality and creative spirit though this was
never in conflict with his strongly held belief in music
as a means of communication. Vaughan Williams remarked
how 'He loved his fellow creatures too much to allow his
message
to them to appear in vague or incomprehensible terms'(2).
Although Holst's music has not fulfilled the dismal prophecy
he once made, namely: "The epitaph that can be written on
every British composer, with only one exception [Purcell],
is that fifty years after his death music in England was
as if he had never lived", it cannot be said to be appreciated
in all its richness. How many people when questioned would
be capable of
naming but three compositions other
than his magnum opus?
The early years
Gustavus Theodore von Holst was born at
4 Pittville Terrace (3),
Cheltenham on Monday 21 September 1874.
His family origins were in Scandinavia
with his great-grandfather, Matthias (1767-1854) an important
musician in the Imperial Russian court in St. Petersburg.
He left for England in the early nineteenth century and
set up a practice as a music teacher in
London. His son, Gustavus
Valentin(e) (1799-1871), settled in Cheltenham where, like
his father, he taught harp and piano to the society of
the town. It was Gustavus Valentin(e) who,
in the 1820s, added
the prefix 'von' to the family name in emulation of the
German branch of the family. This is most
likely to have been an
attempt to enhance his musical status in the minds of prospective
pupils. His marriage to Honoria Goodrich (4)
resulted in the birth of Adolph(us) (1846-1091) who, in
keeping with family traditions, became a musician, working
as a pianist,
teacher, and organist at All Saints' Church in Cheltenham.
After marrying one of his pupils, Clara Cox Lediard - a
singer and talented pianist, their first child together
was Christened
Gustavus Theodore on 21 October 1874. However on 12 February
1882, when Gustav was still only eight, his mother died
of heart disease and dropsy, after a stillbirth a few months
previously.
From an early age Gustav was firmly encouraged
by his father to practice the piano daily. He also studied
the violin and trombone (5).
His physical disposition was weak though, suffering as
he did
from asthma and myopia. Indeed this was to plague him throughout
his life causing him to seek increasingly frequent holidays
to rest from the strains of a growing number of conducting
and teaching commitments. In addition, Gustav was to develop
neuritis in his right arm putting an abrupt end to his
initial ambitions as a pianist and necessitating the use
of amanuenses
for the tiresome copying out of orchestral parts (the age
before the printer and photocopier created hours of copying
work for lone composers).
At the age of four Gustav's father took him
to Church where the young boy heard his father play the
organ and, on recognising a tune he had learned in his
piano lessons,
cried out "That's my tune!" (6).
Also as a child, he had the opportunity to play an old
Egyptian flute remarking later that the extremely curious
musical
effects that could be produced thereon intrigued him. A
melody emancipated from the bonds of conventional harmony
may have
influenced his later writing for solo voice and could also
have sown the seeds of his later interest in scales and
melodic intervals from the Orient.
After attending the local preparatory school,
Gustav entered Cheltenham Grammar School. Here, after studying
Macaulay's 'Lays of Ancient Rome' in 1887, he conceived
of setting the story of Horatius as a cantata. Secretly
he worked
on this idea whilst studying Berlioz's 'Treatise on Instrumentation'
and, when the family were all out, tried the unfinished
work through on the piano. He was shocked and upset by
what he
heard and never finished the work. Undeterred however,
he continued to explore composition when his attention
was caught,
in 1888, by a competition in Boy's Own Paper for a musical
setting 'with organ or piano accompaniment' of a stipulated
poem. Holst's entry came sixth in the junior division and
Holst, spurred on by his near success, subsequently went
on to win first prize for three years running in this annual
competition. Other immature works of this period include Four
Voluntaries for organ, a Symphony in C minor, and the
anthem The Listening Angels in which Holst first
uses a hidden choir during the lines 'Solemnly from distant
voices
rose a vesper hymn.' Holst's father, whose position at
the church enabled some early works to be performed, arranged,
in 1891, for the première of three works at the
Montpellier Rotunda: Scherzo for small orchestra, Intermezzo for
small orchestra, and a song called Die Spröde.
Even as a young man, Holst was suffering from neuritis
in his right arm and Adolph knew then that a career as
a concert
pianist would be impossible.
He was, however, set on a musical career,
and applied unsuccessfully for a scholarship to Trinity
College, whereupon his father sent him to Oxford to study
counterpoint
with George Frederick Sims of Merton College. Compositions
of this period include anthems, songs, an arpeggio study
for piano, and a setting of Charles Kingsley's Ode to
the North East Wind for male chorus and orchestra.
On his return, he worked as a choir director at the Cotswold
village of Wyrk Rissington where he gained valuable experience
if little money.
Two main influences are discernible at this
time - that of Wagner and Arthur Sullivan. Holst heard Götterdämmerung in
London on 13 July 1892 and was stunned by the passionate
expression of the music, which amazed him by its technical
audacity. The intense chromaticism of Wagner's mature style
was to greatly influence the harmony in many of the early
works, for example the operas The Youths' Choice and Sita.
Sullivan's influence is evident in the two-act opera Lansdown
Castle, or The Sorcerer of Tewkesbury written in 1892
which the Gloucester Chronicle declared to be a 'a slender
stringing together, in a whimsical way, of various incidents,
more or less improbable'. The Echo perceptively wrote that
'Young Gustav von Holst gives evidence not only of genius,
but of careful laborious study.'
An unsuccessful application for a scholarship
for the RCM leads to Adolph borrowing £100 from a
relative to finance a
couple of year's maintenance and tuition
for Holst who entered and passed the ordinary
entrance examination.
The student years
At the RCM, after an initial course in theory
with Rockstro and Frederick Bridge, Holst studied composition
with Charles Stanford (who described him as 'enthusiastic,
and happily not devoid of humour') and music history with
Hubert Parry. Though hard working, he was not deemed to
be brilliant, and only received a badly needed scholarship
after
two further failed attempts. His modest weekly allowance
(£1) would not stretch to the hire of a piano for
his Hammersmith lodgings, so all exercises and composition
were
completed without the aid of a keyboard. To save money
Holst either cycled or walked the 97 miles from London
to Cheltenham
(7) at the end of each term,
and solitary walking in the countryside was to remain an
important
pastime for the rest of his life. The minutes of the Literary
and Debating Society record that Holst spoke on 'The Future
of English Music' proposing that 'Academic Training Should
be Abolished'!
Compositions at this time are saturated with
imitations of Wagner. Indeed, during the first term at
college he attended a season of Wagner (8)
operas at Covent Garden and one of his closest friends
of this period - Fritz Hart - who was fanatical about the
German
master - frequently expounding his virtues in conversation.
Though none of his works were deemed worthy of inclusion
in official college concerts (Holst later consigned his
schoolboy and student compositions to his music cupboard,
labelling
them 'Early Horrors'), several pieces were performed outside
college and some were even accepted by well-known publishers.
They include an Air and Variations for piano quintet,
a short trio for piano and strings, and a piano quintet
in G minor; songs and unaccompanied part-songs of settings
of
Walter Scott and Thomas Hood abound.
During this period Holst read widely, taking
in authors such as George Macdonald, Walt Whitman, William
Morris, and Sir Walter Scott, all of whom were to be the
subject of later works and musical settings. A further
seed was sown when on 20 November 1895 college students
put on
a production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. It was
here that Holst's lifelong admiration of Purcell's' music
began. This would later lead to the first performances
of his stage works since the late seventeenth century.
In 1895 Ralph Vaughan Williams returned to
College as a full-time student after three years studying
history at Cambridge. He met Holst, who opened their first
conversation by quoting from Sheridan's 'The Critic'. This
caught VW's fancy and, after learning that they were both
Gloucester lads, a friendship was struck up which was to
endure throughout Holst's life and have a great influence
upon his music and career. The two men began a practice
of holding 'field days' during which they would play through
and discuss each other's compositions. This habit was maintained
throughout Holst's life even after both composers had acquired
international reputations.
After finally receiving a scholarship (maintenance
grant) of £30 per annum, Holst also began to supplement
his income by playing the trombone in theatre orchestras
and seaside bands. The band that paid most highly for fewer
performances (still a pittance) was called the 'White Viennese
Band' - all were dressed in gold-braided uniforms and, despite
the English contingent, were instructed to talk in foreign
accents when in earshot of the public. Thus Holst was exposed
to the curious prejudice that the English public has against
its own musicians, later remarking that 'It was understood
that if you were a good musician you must be a foreigner.
And if you were a good musician it followed that you must
be a better one than a English one.' Holst referred to his
work as a bandsman as 'worming' after the band's conductor
Stanislaus Würm.
Holst was invited to conduct the Hammersmith
Social Choir and so taught them Morley madrigals and Purcell
part songs. The young, fair-haired soprano, Isobel Harrison,
came to Holst's attention during this time and he promptly
fell in love with her though plans of marriage were not
possible for a long time due to financial restrictions.
Holst had
many activities as a choral director, for example, he took
over from VW as organist at St Barnabas' Church, South
Lambeth temporarily and had responsibility for another
choir of which
VW said 'I remember a certain choral society which in his
[Holst] youthful enthusiasm he over-dosed with Bach's Cantatas
with the result that he was asked to retire in favour of
some other conductor and the society returned to its wallowing
in the mire.'
In 1898, despite the extension of his scholarship
for a year, Holst felt that he should begin to make his
own way in the world, for he had been at the RCM now for
five
years. He applied for a post as trombonist and répétiteur
with the Carla
Rosa Opera Company and, after a touching
goodbye (9),
set off for the Lancashire seaside resort of Southport.
Tours and orchestras
When Holst joined the Carla Rosa Opera Company
their repertoire was mostly of foreign works such as La
Bohème (Puccini's not Leoncavallo's), Carmen,
and Cavalleria Rusticana, though some English stage
works were performed, for example Balfe's The Bohemian
Girl, Stanford's Shamus O'Brien, and Wallace's Maritana.
Here Holst met Henry Wood and gained much practical insight
into orchestration and the problems of operatic composition
as well as having to opportunity to experience the orchestra
'from the inside out'(10).
Whilst on tour Holst continued to compose
as best he could and, for relaxation and diversion, began
studying Sanskrit literature. His interest was fired when
a friend leant him one of Friedrich Max Müller's books
(Michael Short, a distinguished scholar, asserts that this
was probably 'The Sacred Books of the East') and would
go on to inspire some of the most interesting works, for
example
the orchestral suite Beni Mora. A mark of Holst's
tenacity and characteristic determination is his enrolment
at the London School of Oriental Languages on the discovery
that most Sanskrit texts were either not translated or
not translated very well. He remarked: 'I believe…that
if you really want passionately to do something, you will
find
time. I used to study Sanskrit on the train - I learned
the alphabet, at least. Much good it did me, but I learned
it.'
The immediate musical consequence of this was his large-scale
three act opera Sita though this was not completed
until 1906.
In 1900 Holst gave up his job in the opera
company and joined the trombones of the Scottish Orchestra.
The standard of musicianship was much higher here than
with Carla Rosa, and the customary repertoire of Beethoven's
Symphonies
and Wagner overtures meant that the concerts were always
popular. Composition was made very difficult, however,
as the punishing schedule left little time for work. Important
works of this period include Ave Maria for eight-part
female chorus - this was strongly based in the harmonic
idiom of the late nineteenth century and demonstrates much
skill
in the contrapuntal handling of a double chorus. It attracted
favourable reviews, most notably from the distinguished
musicologist Ebenezer Prout who wrote 'It is very ingeniously
written,
and I do not think the counterpoint too free. Nobody would
expect such a piece to be written in strict counterpoint.
I am afraid that the fact of its being write for 8-part
female choirs will prevent its having a large sale; there
are very
few female choirs good enough to divide into eight parts
without coming to grief.'
Now that Holst had a regular source of income
and was becoming more established as a composer, he and
Isobel decide to get married. The ceremony took place on
22 June
1901 and, after moving to their new home at 162 Shepherd's
Bush Road, Brook Green, Fritz Hart (a good friend) came
in with the depressing news that Thomas Dunhill had spotted
a pair of parallel fifths in the Ave Maria! Shortly
after the marriage, however, Holst's father died at the
age of fifty-six. His obituary read 'A fine pianist, well
known
in musical circles. He was a local examiner for the RCM…His
son, Gustav, late student of that institution, is a promising
musician and has produced some excellent compositions.'
Various concerts of Holst's works took place during this
period,
including the premiere of the Cotswold Symphony by
the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra on 24 April 1902, and
the young composer, in spite of his relentless neuritis,
frantically finished The Youth's Choice and entered
it into a competition by the Milan publisher, Edoardo Sonzongno
hoping to win the offered prize of £2000. In the end,
he did not win and was particularly disappointed by the
news that operas with what were deemed to be poor libretti
were
rejected before the music was even considered so none of
his music may have been seen.
Indra, an orchestral work resulting
from his Sanskrit studies, was completed in Berlin while
Holst was visiting family members there. Whilst abroad
Holst expressed his wariness of continental influences
upon his
music in a letter to VW; 'Seeing foreigners is a mistake
as a rule. Don't you think that we ought to victimise Elgar?'
That summer Holst stayed at home, effectively giving up
his job as a trombonist, to concentrate on his composition
while
Isobel earned money for their meals by dressmaking. These
were anxious months and Holst rejoined the Scottish Orchestra
for the winter season though when VW decided to leave his
post as music teacher at James Allen's Girls' school in
1904, Holst, who had already deputised for him, was asked
to do
the job and so embarked on his career as a teacher.
