I.   Chaconne

    II.   Intermezzo

    III.  March

Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E-flat for Military Band occupies a legendary position in the wind band repertory and can be seen, in retrospect, as one of the earliest examples of the modern wind band instrumentation still frequently performed today. Its influence is so significant that several composers have alluded to it as a source of inspiration to their own works.

2009 marked the 100th anniversary of the First Suite in E-flat by Gustav Holst, now considered one of the masterworks and cornerstones of the band literature. Although completed in 1909, the suite didn't receive its official premiere until 11 years later, on June 23rd, 1920, by an ensemble of 165 musicians at the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall. However, the work was originally conceived to be performed by ensembles significantly smaller than the one at Kneller Hall. During this time period there was no standardized instrumentation among the hundreds of British military bands of the day, and as a result no significant literature had been previously written for the band medium; most British bands up to then performed arrangements of popular orchestral pieces. To ensure the suite would be accessible to as many bands as possible, Holst ingeniously scored the work so that it could be played by a minimum of 19 musicians, with 16 additional parts that could be added or removed without compromising the integrity of the work.

This joyful suite is a beautiful piece of music history and a staple in the repertoire of wind bands everywhere. Most band conductors and researchers consider his works for military (wind) band as the cornerstone of 20th century concert band literature.

Gustav Holst was an English music composer, teacher, and arranger, best known for his orchestral suite titled The Planets. Born amidst a family with a generations-long history in music, his father wanted him to become a pianist. However, Holst found it difficult to play the piano owing to his health condition and preferred a trombone. Following his initial education, he studied music at the Royal College of Music in London, which was the best formative time of his life. He began playing in several orchestras and embarked on his own career as a composer and teacher. Holst had multiple influences on his composing work, such as poetry by Walt Whitman and the ancient Hindu Sanskrit texts such as Ramayana. His reputation soared following the massive success of songs such as The Planets and The Hymn of Jesus. However, despite being a great teacher and a composer, he spent most of his life in relative obscurity. Currently, he is known as one of the best music composers from his era whose influences can be seen to this day.

Program note and composer biography researched and written by Elisabeth Jackson