Skip to content
Gustav Holst

File:Gustav-Holst-1921.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ200867· pop 60· linked from 1,353 articles

Gustav Holst

Sign in to save

Also known as Gustav Theodore Holst, Gustavus Theodore von Holst

British composer (1874–1934)

AI overview

Gustav Holst was a British composer who lived from 1874 to 1934 and created influential classical music during a transformative period for modern composition. He is remembered as an important figure in music history whose works continue to be performed and studied today.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1874
Died
1934
Works
116

Top works

  • Second Suite in F
  • Folksong suites and other British band classics
  • King Estmere: Old English Ballad for Chorus and Orchestra
  • Hymn of Jesus
  • Two songs without words

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
United Kingdom
Active from
1874-09-21
Active to
1934-05-25
20th centuryballetbritishbritish composerclassicalcomposer

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
658,152
Total plays
5,596,234

Tags

Classicalromanticbritishcomposersinstrumental

Gustav Holst (born September 21, 1874 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK - died May 25, 1934) was an English composer and a music teacher for over 20 years. Holst is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets. Having studied at the Royal College of Music in London, his early work was influenced by Ravel, Grieg, Richard Strauss, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, but most of his music is highly original, with influences from Hindu spiritualism and English folk tunes. <a href="https://www.last.fm/mu

via Last.fm · Gustav Holst

Quotes

  • Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you.
  • Always ask for advice but never take it.
  • If nobody likes your work, you have to go on just for the sake of the work. And you're in no danger of letting the public make you repeat yourself. Every artist ought to pray that he may not be "a success". If he's a failure he stands a good chance of concentrating upon the best work of which he's capable.
  • One of the advantages of being over forty is that one begins to learn the difference between knowing and realising.
  • Music, being identical with heaven, isn't a thing of momentary thrills, or even hourly ones. It's a condition of eternity.
  • The enormity of the universe revealed by science cannot readily be grasped by the human brain, but the music of The Planets enables the mind to acquire some comprehension of the vastness of space where rational understanding fails.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Image
Gustav Holst.jpg
Show 8 more facts
Commons category
Gustav Holst
date of birth
1874-09-21
date of death
1934-05-25
birth name
Gustavus Theodore von Holst
Commons Creator page
Gustav Holst
start of work period
1904-00-00
Sources (9)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

4 objects attributed to Gustav Holst, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

~40 min read

Article

Gustav Holst, c. 1921 photograph by Herbert Lambert

Gustav Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed many other works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss being most crucial early in his development. The subsequent inspiration of the English folksong revival of the early 20th century, and the example of such rising modern composers as Maurice Ravel, led Holst to develop and refine an individual style.

Gallery (12)

Connections

Categories