Holst, Gustav

Holst, Gustav – First Choral Symphony Op. 41 (Vocal Score with English text)

Prelude: Invocation to Pan p.1
Song and Bacchanal p.8
Ode on a Grecian Urn p.39
Scherzo: Fancy Chorus p.56
Folly’s Song p. 78
Finale p. 96

Preface to the full score.
Gustav Holst was well respected as a composer who could handle a large chorus when the Leeds Festival committee commissioned a choral work for the 1925 Festival. He wrote it in 1923-1924, at a time when he was not teaching because of nervous exhaustion. From the beginning it was called First Choral Symphony, suggesting that he always intended there to be a second (a few sketches do exist for one based on poetry by George Meredith, but nothing substantial).

Holst chose the poetry of John Keats to base the work on. This, in itself, was a risk since the text contains some of the most esteemed and ingrained English poetry; indeed, there was a certain amount of criticism of Holst’s setting – for example – the Ode on a Grecian Urn. But Holst rose to the challenge and produced a work both of sensitivity and exuberance. Each movement may be performed separately, and the Scherzo may be played without the chorus, as an orchestral piece.

The words of the Prelude and Invocation to Pan stem from Endymion. In the Finale ‘Spirit here that reignest’ is from a song Keats wrote on a blank page of Beaumont & Fletchers works. ‘God of the golden bow’ comes from the Hymn to Apollo, while ‘In thy western halls of gold’ is an excerpt from the Ode to Apollo. ‘Bards of Passion and of Mirth’ is from another Ode that Keats wrote into his Beaumont & Fletcher book as well. …

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