Gustav Holst; a biography,

by Imogen Holst

Gustav Holst was a leading figure in the new age of English music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His most celebrated work, The Planets, is an orchestral tour de force, but he wrote music of startling originality in many forms, drawing inspiration from sources as varied as English folksong, oriental melody, the Apocrypha and Sanskrit literature, as well as from writers such as Keats, Hardy, Bridges and Whitman.

This biography, by his daughter Imogen, was first published by Faber in 1938 and revised in 1969. In it she quotes at length from his many letters to his friends - especially to his closest colleague Vaughan Williams - and draws on her personal memories of Holst's later years.

Holst struggled all his life against bouts of ill-health and depression, but his remarkable and good-humoured resilience enabled him to compose great music in often difficult circumstances. He was essentially a very private person, and the huge popular success of The Planets in 1919 disconcerted him. Imogen Holst describes the effect of this sudden fame on her father, and records the late flowering of his music in the final years of his life.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

226 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Imogen Clare Holst CBE (12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist and festival administrator; and the only child of the composer Gustav Holst.

She is particularly known for her educational work at Dartington Hall in the 1940s, and for her 20 years as joint artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival.

In addition to composing music, she wrote composer biographies, much educational material and several books on the life and works of her father.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful, occasionally frank and frequently intimate biography of the composer of "The Planets," which is only fitting as it was written by his daughter. Though not a scholarly work I felt it gave me a much better sense of the man's personality and character than the modern biography by Michael Short (which is still very much worth reading). I appreciated the essay included at the end by G.H. on the subject of Artists, Philistines, and Mystics. I need to read it about three more times before I will begin to properly understand it, but that's my fault, not his. If you have any interest in Holst, begin your studies here. (FWIW I own a physical copy of the book, but it appears that for reasons unknown this printing has been lumped in with the kindle edition here on goodreads.)

[Kelsey Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars as far as my personal enjoyment. But it was comprehensive and interesting for the most part, and the fact that it was written by his daughter added a lot to my estimation. Holst was a fascinating person whose devotion to music was inspiring. I'm glad I know more about the man behind one of my favorite pieces of music (The Planets). I've been exploring more of his pieces (there's a complete list in the back of the edition I read) and discovering just how beautiful many of them are. Classical musicians, especially those interested in composing, would probably love this biography.

[Stuart Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A concise biography of the life of Gustav Holst written by his daughter.
Despite her own musical credentials, this book shies away from a musicological exploration of his works and concentrates on the man, his hobbies, friends, and family. The highlights being the extracts from letters he sent. I am not sure what else is out there on Holst, but this very much felt like an introduction only, with much left unexplored.

[Izzy Shirley]

‘when he had sunk to the very depths, he had ‘one clear, intense and calm feeling- that of overwhelming gratitude. And the three chief reasons for gratitude were music, the Cotswolds, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.’

[Paul Helliwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is imogen holst's (the daughter's) book on the composer gustav holst. as a kid my parents owned a copy of 'the planets' (as a bloodthirsty kid I was of course fascinated by mars bringer of war and assumed it to be about the mechanised warfare of world war I).

in fact holst was apparently very keen on casting horoscopes for his friends. jupiter bringer of jollity is supposed to have made the cleaning ladies of the queen's hall 'put down their scrubbing brushes and begin to dance'.

and here we are in a world of beautiful class certainty and classical proportion that is about to fall into conflict, what it is hiding (the cleaning ladies, that their economic interests might be important) will be revealed.

holst was raised up by success but he viewed it as an evil and its demands as distractions (the comparative material comfort it brings is welcome however).

birtwistle was inspired by gustav holst (says his biographer michael hall) and in particular by his moving to thaxted in essex during the first world war.

on the whitsun weekend of 1916 holst and his wife put on a festival.

'four whole days of perpetual singing and playing...

we don't get enough (music). we practice stuff for a concert at which we do a thing once and get excited over it and then go off and do something else... in the intervals between the services people drifted into the church and sang motets or played violin or cello... the effect was indescribable... I realise now why the bible insists on heaven being a place... where people sing and go on singing.' (p.45-48).

in hall's book this inspires both birtwistle's 'monody for corpus christi' and holst's 'four songs for voice and violin' but it has become a strange magical event.

'one summer's evening during the first world war, seemingly, holst went into thaxted parish church where a woman was wandering up and down the aisles singing to the accompaniment of the open strings of a violin she carried. the bare fifths framed her song and helped to articulate it...'

it is almost like something out of akenfield.

[Steven Veeneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am utterly floored by this account. I will treasure the stories of this musician and how he thinks, how he lives. His daughter does an affectionate job much beyond mere readability.

My favorite of many quotes now saved: '... If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.'

[natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

miss girl had some intense daddy issues

[Scott Benowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Numerous music historians written biographies about the English composer Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934).
This biography is particularly interesting because Imogen Holst was Gustav Holst's daughter, as well as a notably accomplished composer herself. Imogen Holst (1907 - 1934) became very familiar with numerous aspects of the history of classical music as well as the processes by which composers develop their own unique styles when she was relatively young.
Anyone who is interested in European classical music of the early decades of the 20th century will thoroughly enjoy reading Imogen Holst's biography of her father, Gustav Holst.

[Millie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is without doubt one of my favourite books that I've read this year. Imogen writes incredibly gracefully and concisely, and while sufficiently detached so as not to romanticise her father's life, she still manages to make him seem like the protagonist of a novel. I originally picked this book up due to its relevance to a current project, but I genuinely enjoyed reading it. The excerpts from letters and the tidbits from Gustav's life and personality are incredibly charming and give some great insights into the mind and personality responsible for so much music which, realistically, did not exactly fit neatly within its time. I may very well read it again.