The Biography of Gustav Holst

Later, his father married one of his students and Gustav was then sent to Cheltenham Grammar School, where he tried his hand at composition. He then spent two months at Oxford learning counterpoint before he applied to the Royal College of Music and other colleges in London. He failed to gain any scholarships, so his father borrowed money to send Gustav the the Royal College of Music to study under Charles Stanford. Stanford found Gustav hardworking, but not at all brilliant and their lessons were often frustrating. On the other h

Holst left college in 1989, playing the trombone in the Carl Rosa Opera Company and later Scottish Opera. The cramping neuritis in his right hand was perpetually defeating him as a keyboardist. He could no longer practice for long hours and he realized that he could not keep up his technique. He therefore decided to take up the trombone, which allowed him to play in orchestras and provide him with an income. The experience was also of use to him as a composer.

In January of 1932, Holst was invited to lecture about composition at Harvard University. Once in America he undertook a grueling program of conducting and lecturing including a talk on his beloved Haydn at the Library of Congress in Washington. But soon afterwards, he was hospitalized with hemorrhagic gastritis caused by a duodenal ulcer. Back in England he was convalesced for much of the rest of 1932. Despite Holst’s efforts to work again the next year, at the end of 1933, he entered a nursing home. But during that year, he was able to write the Lyric Movement and The Brook Green Suite. While in special care, he was given the choice to have a minor operation and a restricted life afterwards, or a major operation and the freedom to do what he pleased. He chose the latter, and the operation was planned for the early spring of 1934. The operation in May was successful, but his heart was unequal to the strain. He passed away two days later in May 25, 1934. Holst’s ashes were buried in the Cathedral in Chichester.

In 1901, Holst married Isobel Harrison, and they lived in their first home together in Shepherds Bush. He came into a small legacy when his father died, so he and Isobel went to Berlin for a holiday. When Holst returned to L

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