Full Description
A detailed exploration of the works for winds by Gustav Holst, the renowned composer of The Planets, aided by musical analysis and rich historical documentation.
Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was an English composer and music educator whose work spanned four decades. Though he remains most widely known for his orchestral suite The Planets, his works for band or wind ensemble are also performed frequently, yet have rarely been studied in such systematic detail. They vary widely in genre (from chamber music to military and brass-band works) and in form (from sonata cycle to suite to symphonic poem).
As author Jon Mitchell shows, Holst's works for winds give plentiful evidence of the many influences on him, both musical (including Wagnerian romanticism, English folk song, and Baroque polyphony) and nonmusical (e.g., Sanskrit literature, William Morris, and Walt Whitman). The book gives careful attention to these influences and to the evolution of the works through analysis of sketches and full manuscript scores.
Holst and the Winds makes use of a wide array of primary sources, including Holst's personal papers, written correspondence, programs, and periodical reviews. Music educators, performers, conductors, and anybody who loves Holst's music will enjoy the insights provided herein.
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
List of Abbreviations
1. Beginnings
Cheltenham
Royal College of Music
Duet for Organ and Trombone
Worming
Chamber Winds
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Scottish Orchestra
Woodwind Quintet
Career Change
Sanskrit
Pan's Anniversary
Two Songs without Words
2. A Paragon for Posterity
The Military Band's Quest for Repertoire
Stepney Children's Pageant
First Suite in E-flat for Military Band
Early Performances and Recordings
3. Music for the Populace
The Festival of Empire
The Pageant of London
"Scene IV, Part 1"
Morris Dance Tunes
4. The Art of Revision
2nd Military Suite in F minor
Folk Tunes and Dances
Second Suite in F for Military Band
Relationship to St. Paul's Suite
Consequences of the Kneller Hall Conference
Early Performances and Recordings
Three Folk Tunes
5. The War Years
A Dirge for Two Veterans
Incidental Music for St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Festival Choruses
YMCA Fieldwork in Salonica and Constantinople
Seven Choruses from the Alcestis of Euripides
6. Another Change in Style
First North American Trip
A Fugal Concerto
Royal Military School of Music Transcriptions from The Planets
At the Boar's Head
Terzetto
Egdon Heath
7. Music for the Working Classes
The British Brass Band Movement
Two Psalms
Projected Brass Band Arrangements
A Moorside Suite
Sketches
National Brass Band Championships
Military Band and String Versions
8. On the Wireless
The BBC Wireless Military Band
Central European Holiday
Bach's Fugue à la Gigue
Second North American Trip
Marching Song
9. "from GH (and Emma Smith)"
Hammersmith: A Prelude and Scherzo
The Water Gipsies
Sketches
Two-piano Version
"Emma's First Beginning"
Orchestral Version
Military Band Try-out
Orchestra premiere
The Bells
10. Validation
Third North American Trip
Boston Symphony Orchestra
New York
Harvard
Montréal and Return to New York
Hospitalized
Hammersmith Band Premiere
Harvard Glee Club
Mr. Shilkret's Maggot
Return to Ann Arbor
Carlisle and How Mighty Are the Sabbaths
Conclusion
Appendices
I. Correspondence, W. J. Duthoit to A. A. Harding
II. Comparison of the Instrumentation on the Urtext Scores of Holst's Original Military Band Works
Bibliography
About the Author
Index
