7/25/2019 A New Look at G. Holst - J. Warrack

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A New Look at Gustav HolstAuthor(s): John WarrackReviewed work(s):Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 104, No. 1440 (Feb., 1963), pp. 100-103Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/948417 .

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7/25/2019 A New Look at G. Holst - J. Warrack

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John

Warrack

A New

Look

at

Gustav

Holst

photograph y

Sydney

W.

Loeb

Of

the

hree

major

English

omposers

ho died n

1934,

Holst has been he

mostmisvalued.

Neither

Elgar

nor

Delius

has

lacked

performance

nd

sympatheticnderstanding:olst has remained

virtually

he

composer

f The Planets and The

Perfect

ool

ballet

music,

of the

once-admired

Hymn fJesus

nd

the

lways-admired,

ever-heard

Egdon

Heath. His

daughtermogen's

ooks,

Gustav

Holst

(1938)

and more

especially

he

Music

of

Gustav olst

1951),

ut

he asefor

him

with

reat

critical

nsight;

et

concert

y

Boult n

1956

nd

his recent ecca record

f

the

Hymn,

gdon

Heath

and

the

erfect

ool ballet re

olitary

andmarksn

the

post-war

areer f Holst'smusic.

With

one

exception. Aldeburgh,

hereMiss

Holstnow

ives,

as

ncluded

Holstwork n most

recent

festivals-two

Rig

Veda

Hymns,

Turn

Back,O Man', theTerzetto, avitri, heOde to

Death,

gdon

Heath

nd a

project

orAt

the oar's

Head

that

had

to

be shelved. Britten

as a

great

admiration

or

Holst;

and

though

here re few

superficial

olstian traits n

his

music,

he has

certainly

enefited

rom

Holst's

vigorous

atchet

workon the Victorian

eed-jungle.

No

man,

of

however

riginal enius,

ould

wishfor

a

greater

gift

han

he

rationallyeveloped

raditions

n the

country

n

which

he is

born',

wrote

Bernard an

Dieren.

Though

ur

age

is

scarcely

comfortable

one

for Britteno arrive

n,

Holst

did

openup

a

clear

viewof the real traditionsf

English

music.

And

as

Miss

Holst

says,

his

mistakes eed never

bemadeagain.

But ike ll

originals,

olst s

fascinating

ven

n

his

mistakes.

Mostof

his alamities

pring

ot

from

wild

xperiment,

utfrom

suddenly

aive

ccept-

ance

ofone

conventionr another:

echnically,

uch

things

s

thetext-book

equential

ntries hatmar

TheHymn fJesus t 'Beholding hat suffer'a

passage

he later

egretted,hough

e

immediately

repeated

he

disaster t

'For life nd

joy'

in the

Ode

to

Death);

emotionally,

he

dreadful eartiness

of

The

Sergeant's

ong',

the confusion f dance

exhilaration

ith mere

galumphing

which

the

frequent

ecourse o

7/8

r

5/8

ime id

nothing

o

alleviate).

There

were lso blind

pots

hat ould

permit

n

irreproachably

haste

Mating

Dance in

The

Morning

f

the Year and

a

Bacchanal n the

FirstChoral

Symphony

hat s stone old

sober.

Yet similar echnical

abits

ould

give

rise to

effects

hich o other

omposer

ouldhave

brought

off.

Only

he could have written

he

chords

hat

moveawayfrom unison o create heblinding

radiance

f

To

you

who

gaze

a

lamp

m

I';

while

the

handling

f an

insistent

hythm

n Mars is

superior

o that n theBattle cene

n

Ein

Helden-

leben-this

s the nakedface

of

war,

not a

heroic

daydream.

For

the

vision s

mystic.

It

is

also

precise:

ll

mystical

xperiences,

olst

wrote,

are

either

llusions

r

direct nd

intimate

ealizations'

(his talics).

He

was

practical

t his

most

ar-seeing:

he was

never

ne who

liked

to lose

himself,

ike

Sir

Thomas

Browne,

n

an

'O

Altitudo '.

A

composer

ho mixes

alamitiesnd

glories

o

indiscriminately,

ometimes ven

managing

to

produce

stonishinglyriginal

ffects rom heir

juxtaposition,ayfairlyaysomeoftheblame n

his

environment.

he

first

art

of

Holst's

career

was

marked

y

the ffort

o

discover

mancipating

100

7/25/2019 A New Look at G. Holst - J. Warrack

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sources

f

nspiration,

nd the

big

brown

nvelope

of

"Early

orrors'

might,

ess

modestly,

ave

been

marked

EarlyStruggles'.

But

such

a

quest

must

also

spring

rom sense

f

outsiderness.

here s a

world f difference

etween

he

homely heology

f

Bunyan's ilgrim,

hosen

y

Vaughan

Williams,

nd

fallen

man

glimpsing

he

Heavens n The

Hymn

f

Jesus, azzledbywhathe sees. Pilgrim asalways

sure o

arrive

afely.

But

Holst

could

only

ourney

urtherutwards.

Savitri's

xchanges

with Death

('our only

sane

possession')

re far

more

cute

nd realthan hose

with

her

husband

atyavan:

he s

at

least

half

n

love with aseful

Death,

the musicmakes

plain.

The

drifting

are

fifths

hat

open

and

close

the

Odeto

Death,

ound he

word

Come ',

re

ublimely

calm:

it is at 'For

life nd

oy'

that

manufacture

takes

ver o

pull

the

omposer hrough patch

f

unfamiliar

erritory.

This

is the

split

between lesh nd

spirit

t its

most

bvious

n

Holst. Not all theblamefor he

erratic

rogress

fhismusic, ven none and the

same

work,

an

be blamed n

a

necessary

mpiricism.

The more

ne

studies

is

music,

he

deeper

eems

to lie this

chism

n

his

character;

nd

as he

grew

older,

nd

musically

ore

elf-knowing,

e

gradually

absorbed

t

nto he

bonesof his diom.

It

is

surprising

ow

early

he

split

dramatized

itself n

his

technique

s

a

pull

between

pposed

keys.Thefirst usic xamplen Miss

Holst's ook,

from he

opera

TheRevoke

Op

1,

1895),

hows n

emphasized

wist

rom

major

o G

#

major;

nd

by

The

Mystic

TrumpeterOp

18,

1904)

the

pursuing

trumpets

nd

horns ave

begun:

Ex

MoLto

sostenuto

.tr

--

'This

piercing ursuit',

Miss Holst

observes,

was

to follow im

hroughout

hewhole fhis

ife'. The

familiarnstancesMars early 914); t recurs ear

the

nd of his ife n theChoral

antasia

1930)

A

against

D,

the diabolus

in

musica)

and

in

Egdon

Heath

(1927),

where

C

against D5,

the

other

great

tonal onflictf Holst's

ife,

eachests

ownresolu-

tion.

They

re not

always

o

fiercely

ramatized;

but

he ame onal onfrontations

re

at the entre

of

his wholeharmonic

ay

of

thinking.

here s

nothing

f 'Es ist

genug'

n

this

quintessentially

Holstian

rogression

rom

he Choral

antasia:

see

example

2

Not the least

characteristiclement

here is

the

smooth

rogression

f

parts

hat rrives

erfectly

naturallyt a bitonalchord. Bitonalitys the

logical

utcome f much

n

early

mature

olst,

ut

Mercury

s the

irst,

nd

most

rilliant,xample

f

Ex

2

Organ

,4W

-

- -- "-- 2

"i

:

split

etween

eys

eing xplored

or

ts

possibilities,

rather

han

transpiring

nd

then

being

rejected-

here

E

major

versus

major,

he diabolus

gain

but

now

welded

nto

single

cale.

This

s

already

a

presage

f the

opponents

eing

reconciled,ust

as the treatmentf E minor nd G#minorn

Neptune

ach

as the other's

resolution

oints

forward

orHolst.

The

purely

itonal

or

tri-tonal)

exercise

of the Terzetto

remains

basically

an

exercise,hough

ne thatwas

maginatively

nough

worked

o

give

he

piece

value

nd character

f ts

own.

But wo

years

ater

ame

Egdon

Heath.

Here

t is that

he

tonalconfrontations

nd

the

fourths

armony,

he

atter f which

n

particular

had

become

dangerous

ourceof

self-imitation,

find

heir rue utcome.

ll of Holst s

in this

rey,

magical

work:

he

quintuple

nd

septuple

hythms,

the

bitonal

nflections,

he

piercing

ursuit',

he

folk-tune

measures,

he

processional,

he chains

offourths-yetheir ontexts so closeto Holst's

essential

pirit

hat

hey

t ast chieve ull

xpressive

power.

This is nature

poetry

t

its

strongest.

Though

Holst's

music must be

forever ssoci-

ated

with that

ominous stretch

f

Dorset,

for

those

who know

both,

t is

neither

mitation

or

some

kind

f

accompaniment

o

TheReturn

f

the

Native,

whose

famous

pening hapter

ave

Holst

his

epigraph.

Egdon

was

for

Hardy

recurrent

symbol

f

a Fate

apathetic

o

man's

ittle ife. It

was

part

f

whathe ater

alled,

n

Tess,

the

plight

of

being

live'. For

Holst,

his

daughter

ells

us,

RECENTLY

PUBLISHED

A

Miniature

core

of

Holst's

EGDON

HEATH

5/-

NOVELLO & COMPANY LTD

160 Wardour

treetLondon

W1

7/25/2019 A New Look at G. Holst - J. Warrack

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'there

s

no

hint f

exile n the

oneliness f

Egdon

Heath: it is a

homecoming'.

All is

resolved:

ll

thathad

gone

befores

summed

p

in

the

Nirvana

of that inal

adence:

CL

VLn

,g

Vc

But

his

was not

by

any

meansHolst's

astwork.

He was too

naturally

neven n

artist,

nd

by

now

perhaps

too

physically xhausted,

o

apply

the

'lessons' f

Egdon

Heath-which n

any

ase

was

a

unique

work

because he

omplete xpression

f

a

single,

ifficult

oncept.

That he should henhave

discovered he now almostforgotten umbert

Wolfe eems

nevitable,

o

much s

there,

n

the

twelve

oems

he

chose

o

set

as

unevenly

s

ever),

thatmatches is own

cast of

mind.

But t

s

with

four

ate

masterpieces

hathe

finds realease and

flexibility

f

language-the

Choral

Fantasia,

Ham-

mersmith,

he

Lyric

Movement nd the

Scherzo

from

he

unfinished

ymphony.

A new

feeling, eaching

owards

real

human

warmth,

egins

to

come over his

style

n this

'resolved'

hase.

The calm

nd bustle n Hammer-

smith

re

equal experiences

ow,

solitude

and

gregariousness

ulfilling

qual

human

needs;

they

are

direct nd

living,

not

refracted

gainst

the

vastness f

uncaring gdon,

whose

erene,

final'

fourthsre

ctually

urnedo the iveliest

ccount

n

the

cherzo:

CL

Fag

-

There s

a

fluency

nd

geniality

ere

and in

the

Lyric

Movementhat

are

tokenof the inner

e-

conciliation

hat

eemed o

have

been

won:while

f

the

Fantasia's

pening,

Miss

Holst

writes,

it

held

not

only

he

pull

between lesh

nd

spirit

ut

also

the

recognition

f their

eliance n each

other'.

This

ouldwell

tand s a

summary

f

theworks

f

Holst's

final

eriod.

That t didprovefinal s a very eriousoss to

English

music.

Probably

he

ompleted

ymphony

would have

been

uneven,

uttheres little

oubt

that

f

Holsthad ived s

long

s

Vaughan

Williams

he

wouldhave

gone

on to

produce

more

master-

pieces.

Miss

Holst

doubts his

influence n

his

successors,

xcept

s a clearer

way

of

d6bris.

But

there s

much

Holst

n

Vaughan

Williams's ourth

and

Sixth

Symphonies.

The violent

emitonal

clash

that

pens

No

4,

and

the

onstructionf the

whole

work n fourths

with

ven D-A

relation-

ship

exposed

n

the

Scherzo )

would

hardly

ave

EGDON

HEATH

Sir

Adrian

Boult

conducting

The

London

Philharmonic

rchestra

THE

HYMN

OF

JESUS

Sir

Adrian

oult

onducting

he BBC

Chorus

nd

The

BBC

Symphony

rchestra

THE

PERFECT

FOOL

Sir

Adrian

Boult

conducting

The

London

Philharmonic

rchestra

0 SXL 6006

0

LXT 6006

THE

PLANETS

Herbert

on

Karajan

conducting

The

Vienna

Philharmonic

rchestra

O

SXL

2305

Q

LXT

5669

ON

DECCA

STEREO OR

DECCA

ONO RECORDS

THE

DECCA RECORD

COMPANY

LIMITED

DECCA

HOUSE

ALBERT

EMBANKMENT

LONDON S E 1

7/25/2019 A New Look at G. Holst - J. Warrack

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GUSTAV

HOLST

Full

Orchestra

eni

Mora

Suite

Double Concerto

2

violins)

The Planets

Opera

Savitri

ChoralWorks

Choral Fantasia

(Robert

Bridges)

The

Coming

f

Christ

SchoolOrchestra

BrookGreen uite

St Paul's Suite

For

the

prices

of

the above and

full

list

of

numerous

part-songs by

this

composer,

apply

to

the

publisher:

J.

CURWEN &

SONS LTD

29

MAIDEN

LANE,

LONDON,

WC2

been used to

produce

hat

music f

Hoist

had not

lived.

The

nfluence

s

more

markedn No

6,

with

its

pening

onal

werverom minor o

E

minor,

ts

menacing rocessional

n

the

econd

movement,

he

clambering

ugmented

ourths f

the

scherzo-

above

all,

the

purely

Holstian

desolation

f

the

finale,

eering

ut across hewastes nd

dissolving

into

two

chords,

B

major

nd

E

minor,

hat an

only

esolve

ndlessly

nto ach

other

s

in

Neptune.

Britten

as

also

gained;

and not

only

in

the

general

erms

suggested

arlier.

hough

he

C-F

opposition

f

the War

Requiem

s made from

non-Holstianecurityf tonal anguage,here re

more

han

races

hroughout

f

Hoist's

discoveries

Last

month's

issue

of

The Musical

Times was

quickly

sold

out.

We

have

of course increased

the

print-ordergain-but to be sure of your copy

place

a

regular

order,

or

clip

out

(or

copy

on a

postcard)

this

coupon,

and

post

it

to The

Musical

Times,

160

Wardour

Street,

London

WI.

of

what

he

diabohlus

an

produce eing

aken nto

different,

ut

specifically

nglish, magination.

do

not

thinkt s

stretching

point

o

see

n one of

the

Requiem's reat

moments,

At a

Calvary

ear

Ancres',

post-Holstian

reedomf declamationn

quintuple

ime,

nd a

real

touchof

Holst

in

the

sublimityheC-F # elationshipeaches.Certainly

themuttered

Pleni

suntcoeli et

terra

gloria

ua'

directly

ecalls

The

Hymn

f

Jesus

nd

'Glory

to

Thee,

Holy

Spirit'.

Britten

chieves violence n

the

/4

ies rae hat

Holst

might

ell ave

managed

(the

fanfares

ecall he

piercing ursuit',

ut

grow

more

irectly

rom

arlyBritten),

hough

e

could

never

have

gone

on to

Britten's

eartbreaking

addition

f

the

oprano's

acrimosa.

But t

is

in

Britten's

irtuoso

enseof

opposed

tonalities hat

the debt

is most

plain.

Holst

writes

familiar

C-D

(here

D-E1)

cadence to

underline he

finalwords

f one of

the

Wolfe

ongs,

All

things

are

yours

n the

peace

that ndures':

p

p

14 4

19~?

r-I

The calm

f hose

djacent

eys,

or

which e

spent

his ife's

xperienceearching,

s

transmuted

nto he

perfecteace

that

esolves

ritten's

reatRequiem.

Ex

6

Awiry

-al

A -

ckaus

I#

A-

-

mem

-en

The music

examples

are

reproduced

by

permission

of

the

respective

publishers:

Curwen

(Choral

Fantasia),

Boosey

&

Hawkes (Unfinished Symphony and Britten's War Requiem)

and

Augener

(Humbert

Wolfe

Songs).

Please send me The

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Times for

a

year,

starting

with the

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