Imogen Holst (1907-1984), daughter of Gustav, was arguably one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century British music. In Aldeburgh, she is best known for her innovating years as Artistic Director of the Festival and as a music assistant to Benjamin Britten from 1952 until 1964. However, her interests and achievements ranged far wider.

The first book-length study on Imogen Holst, timed to mark her centenary this year, pays tribute her remarkable ‘life in music’. At the heart of the book are the diaries that she kept for the first two years of her long working relationship with Britten and his Aldeburgh circle. These are published in full for the first time.

Rosamund Strode, her successor as Britten’s music assistant, has collaborated with Christopher Grogan to put these fascinating diaries into their fuller biographical context.

Read an interview with Rosamund Strode and Christopher Grogan in the online edition of the East Anglian Daily Times.

The volume also includes a complete catalogue of Imogen Holst’s own compositions, and an introduction to her musical style by Christopher Tinker.

Imogen Holst:A Life in Music, edited by Christopher Grogan, is published by Boydell & Brewer. 

To complement the book, Simon Hewitt Jones, Thomas Hewitt Jones and Court Lane Strings have recorded a new CD of her significant string chamber music: the Phantasy Quartet, Sonata for Violin and Cello, String Quintet, String Trio No.1, Duo for Viola and Piano and The Fall of the Leaf.  The CD can be ordered online from Court Lane Music.