Gustav Holst: Elegy: Orchestra

Holst's Symphony in F: The Cotswold Op.8 (H.47) was composed in 1899 and 1900 and given what was in all probability its only performance in 1902 by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra conducted by Dan Godfrey (this was the first professional performance of any of Holst's orchestral works). The manuscript of the symphony is in the British Library. The music is uneven and only in the second movement 'Elegy' was Holst equal to his ambition: his feelings for Williams Moris whom he heard lecture and in whose London house he rehearsed the Hammersmith Socialist Choir inspired a heartfelt tribute. Morris died in 1896; he lived at Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire on the edge of theCotswolds from 1871 until his death.