Two events at the British Library

Join us at the British Library in November for two events marking Gustav Holst’s 150th anniversary – including a special performance inside the Rare Books & Music Reading Room! 

Gustav Holst: An Archival Legacy 
Wednesday 20 November 2024, 14.00-16.30, Foyle Room, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB (tickets are free, but please contact [email protected] to book a place)   

150 years on from his birth (and 90 years after his death), Gustav Holst is celebrated for several very famous pieces of music – among them, The Planets. But much of his work remains little known, and his life still awaits the thorough exploration given to some of his contemporaries. In this event, we put the focus on the archival sources – manuscript scores, notebooks, letters – and their potential to provide new insights into the composer, his music and those who helped to support him in his work.

Laura Kinnear (Curator, Holst Victorian House, Cheltenham), Judith Ratcliffe (Archivist, The Red House, Britten Pears Arts) and Chris Scobie (Curator, Music Manuscripts & Archives, British Library) delve into their respective collections to showcase the range of material preserved. Holst’s early life, his creative process, his musical influences and the role of his daughter, Imogen, in preserving all this material will all be discussed. We are also delighted to be joined by Holst specialist Philippa Tudor, whose research into Gustav, Imogen and Isobel Holst has drawn on archival collections far and wide.

Notebook in which Holst kept a note of works composed. Add MS 57863, ff. 24v-26

Looking at the archival sources reveals hidden stories and can challenge received wisdom – ultimately providing a means to reassess the legacy of this unique composer of the early 20th century today.  

The afternoon will also include performances by musicians from the Royal College of Music, where Holst himself was a student, performing the Terzetto for flute, oboe and viola alongside a suite for solo viola by Imogen Holst. 

Tickets are free, but please book by emailing [email protected].    

Gustav Holst: An Archival Legacy

PROGRAMME
14.00  Welcome (Sandra Tuppen, Head of Music Collections, British Library)
14.05  Holst's early life and the collections at the Holst Victorian House, Cheltenham (Laura Kinnear)
14.25  Holst's creative process and the collections at the British Library (Chris Scobie)
14.45  Holst's archive, legacy and the collections at The Red House, Aldeburgh (Judith Ratcliffe)
15.05  BREAK (tea and coffee provided)
15.25  Researching Gustav, Isobel and Imogen Holst (Philippa Tudor)
15.50  Performances:

                Imogen Holst: Suite for Unaccompanied Viola  (1930)    
                Gustav Holst: Terzetto (1925)

            (Aisha Goodman, viola; Zoë Borseth Rasmusssen, flute; Ross Williams, oboe)

16.20  END

 

Letter from Gustav Holst to Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1903. BL, Add MS 57953

Holst’s Planets: A Celestial Remembrance 
Sunday 10th November 2024, 15.30, Rare Books & Music Reading Room, British Library (tickets available via the British Library website) 

Before that, a very special concert on Sunday 10 November will feature Holst’s most famous piece, The Planets, performed in the composer’s version for two pianos by Simon Callaghan and Thomas Kelly. The British Library’s Rare Books & Music Reading Room, usually a quiet space of course, will be filled with cosmic sound for the occasion – from the imposing menace of ‘Mars’ to the mystical music of ‘Neptune’.   

Part of the manuscript of Holst's 'Jupiter' written out for two pianos. Add MS 57881, f. 20

There are some especially nice connections here: Gustav Holst was a regular user of the old reading room at the British Museum for one thing, spending time there in his study of Sanskrit. Many of Holst’s music manuscripts were donated to the British Museum (now British Library) by his daughter, Imogen, too. Among them are autograph, or part-autograph, scores of several of the movements from The Planets written out for two pianos (the autograph full scores of most movements are at the Bodleian Library in Oxford). This reflects the way that Holst worked at the time: producing a continuous draft of a work on four staves, so that it could be played on two pianos. After he had heard this, he would set to work on the orchestration, annotating the score with his intentions – a good example of which can be seen above.  

For more information and to book tickets, please visit: https://www.seetickets.com/event/holst-s-planets-a-celestial-remembrance/british-library/3190448  

This is the first in a series of concerts to be held in the Rare Books & Music Reading Room, the others are: 

Medieval women in song, Sunday 1 December 2024, 15.30: https://thebritishlibraryculturalevents.seetickets.com/event/voice-trio-medieval-women-in-song/british-library/3190586  

Take Five: The five viols of Fretwork play five centuries of music, some of it in five, Sunday 12 January 2025, 15.30: https://thebritishlibraryculturalevents.seetickets.com/event/fretwork-take-five/british-library/3195325