Gustav Holst

HOLST, Gustav(us Theodore von). b. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 21 September 1874; d. Ealing, West London, 25 May 1934. He was of German, Scandinavian and Russian ancestry; his father was a pianist and organist in Cheltenham. Holst won a scholarship (on a second attempt) to study at the Royal College of Music where he worked under Stanford* (1895-98) and, as a student, befriended Vaughan Williams*, Ireland*, Coleridge-Taylor, Hurlstone and Fritz Hart. His second study, the trombone, enabled him to earn money to support his studies by playing in seaside bands and pit orchestras, and, after he left the RCM, to make a living with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and the Scottish Orchestra. In 1903...