Holst archive
This archive primarily comprises the personal papers and music manuscripts of Imogen Holst (1907-1984), composer, writer on music, conductor, administrator and daughter of Gustav Holst. It also includes important music manuscripts and papers of her father as well as files of the Holst Foundation and of G and I Holst Estate.
Imogen Holst studied at the Royal College of Music, where she held a composition scholarship for tuition with George Dyson and Gordon Jacob. She initially worked as a freelance musician and teacher until in 1940 she was appointed as a traveller for the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA). In 1943 she resumed her teaching career at Dartington Hall in Devon. In the autumn of 1952 Holst moved to Aldeburgh to work as Britten’s music assistant, a post she held until 1964 when she decided to concentrate on editing and promoting the music of her father. She was artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 1956 to 1977, and conductor of the Purcell Singers, work which involved much editing of Renaissance and Baroque music. Later in life a renewed enthusiasm for composition inspired her to write some fine original works mainly for amateurs.
Imogen Holst’s papers, amassed throughout her life, document her wide ranging achievements, from her own compositions to her work on her father’s music, from conducting the Purcell Singers to delivering lectures at the Aldeburgh Festival. Holst compiled a detailed record of her life in a series of scrapbooks and boxes starting in 1926 and continuing until 1984. These contain autobiographical material of many types including letters, postcards, photographs, concert programmes, press cuttings and printed ephemera. Her life and work is further recorded in engagement diaries, journals, travel diaries and reports. These cover her wartime work for the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts fostering amateur music-making in south-west England as well as her travels with the English Folk Dance Society and her visit to the Eighth International Festival of Contemporary Music held in Liege in 1930. The diary Holst kept for eighteen months from her arrival in Aldeburgh in September 1952 gives a detailed and personal view of her work with Britten.
Imogen Holst's correspondence files contain letters from many composers, musicians, and other figures including Lennox Berkeley, Adrian Boult, George Malcolm, William Plomer, Michael Tippett and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The photographs capture many events throughout her life as well as members of the Holst family, friends and colleagues.
The archive comprises the majority of Imogen Holst’s autograph music manuscripts covering her own compositions, as well as arrangements, realizations and editions. There is a set of her published music as well as scores and parts of her father’s music marked by her for performance. The archive includes music manuscripts by other composers which were given to Holst for performance or comment including works by Lennox Berkeley, James Bernard, Elizabeth Maconchy and Malcolm Williamson. The archive includes Holst’s writings on composers and other musical topics in the form of programme notes, articles and books as well as her notes and scripts for talks and lectures, and transcripts of broadcasts.
The papers of her father Gustav Holst comprise autograph music manuscripts of published and unpublished works as well as a complete set of his published music, some volumes of which belonged to the composer. There are letters to and from Gustav Holst including correspondence between him, his wife Isobel and Imogen, and also Dora Herbert Jones and Vally Lasker. Other notable items include lecture notes, as well as engagement diaries and notebooks dating from 1912 to 1934.
Another important part of the archive concerns Imogen Holst’s work promoting her father’s music. There is a series of files concerning Gustav Holst’s works which contain Imogen’s working materials for ‘A Thematic Catalogue of Gustav Holst’s Music’ but also a variety of other items added at a later date. There are extensive files concerning events held to celebrate the Holst Centenary in 1974 as well as files about recordings, publications, and lectures.
The archive belongs to the Holst Foundation but is administered by the Britten-Pears Library. Any enquiries relating to the archive should be addressed to the Library.
- To find out more about Imogen Holst's life and work you may read a more detailed biography. (You will need Adobe Reader to view this PDF file - download the Adobe Reader software for free.)
- Read Chris Grogan’s article ‘An enduring spirit’ to find out more about Imogen Holst’s work for the Aldeburgh Festival. (You will need Adobe Reader to view this PDF file)
- The Dartington Hall Trust archive houses a number of interesting items concerning Imogen Holst and her work at Dartington Hall including correspondence, reports, photographs and music manuscripts.
- The Gustav Holst website by Kenric Taylor provides a biography as well as information on compositions, recordings, publications and events.
- The web site of the Holst Birthplace Museum introduces the Regency terrace house in Cheltenham where Gustav Holst was born.
- The Imogen Holst online resource by Christopher Tinker, in association with Court Lane Music, provides a biography as well as information about Holst as composer, arranger, editor and author. Court Lane Music released a recording of Imogen Holst's string chamber music in 2008.
- Letters from Gustav Holst to his friend and colleague William Gillies Whittaker are featured on the Sep 2004 book of the month pages of the Glasgow University Library, Special Collections Department website. Over 200 letters from Holst, as well as a small number of music manuscripts, are held at the Library in the Whittaker Collection . The letters from Holst to Whittaker have been published in Letters to W G Whittaker, edited by Michael Short (Glasgow: University of Glasgow Press, 1974).