Gustav Holst.

Gustav Holst was born on 21 September 1874 in Pittville, Cheltenham, to a musical family; his father was a pianist and his mother died when he was young. He showed early musical talent and attended Pate’s Grammar School before enrolling at the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition and took up the trombone. He later continued his education at University College London. His early work as a trombonist in wind ensembles gave him a deep understanding of brass instruments, which he later used in his compositions.

Holst’s brother, Ernest Cossart, became a noted actor, but Holst himself committed himself entirely to his music.

Holst’s most famous work, the orchestral suite The Planets, was composed between 1914 and 1916 and premiered in 1918. Its widespread popularity came in the early 1920s, making Holst a reluctant public figure, but he continued to teach and compose. In 1931, he accepted a commission to score the film The Bells. The experience was frustrating: directors demanded changes, and the film was eventually sold to an American company and never released. The score has been lost, with only a vague recollection of a two-track sequence involving a brass band and a pipe band.

Before his film work, Holst made his living as a trombonist and teacher, which shaped his forceful brass writing. His output includes operas, choral works, and orchestral pieces, but none rivaled the success of The Planets.

Holst married Isobel Harrison on 23 June 1901, and they had one child, Imogen Holst, who became a composer and conductor. The family lived in London, where Holst taught at various schools. A reticent man, Holst hated the attention The Planets brought him; when approached for an autograph, he would present a typed slip reading I do not give autographs. He died of heart failure on 25 May 1934 in Ealing, London, at age 59.

Holst’s The Planets remains a staple of orchestral repertoire and appears in films such as Knowing 2009, The Man Who Fell to Earth 1976, and The Vast of Night 2019. He received the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal. His daughter, Imogen, carried on his musical tradition, editing and performing his works. Holst created one of the most famous suites in classical music and was a master orchestrator.