Editing Gustav Holst (section)

===Post-war===
On his return from Greece, Holst resumed his teaching and composing. In addition to his existing work he accepted a lectureship in composition at the [[University of Reading]] and joined Vaughan Williams in teaching composition at their ''alma mater'' the RCM.<ref name=graebe/> Inspired by Adrian Boult's conducting classes at the RCM, Holst tried to further pioneer music education for women by proposing to the High Mistress of St Paul's Girls' School that he should invite Boult to give classes at the school: "It would be glorious if the SPGS turned out the only women conductors in the world!"<ref>Mitchell, p. 212</ref> In his soundproof room at SPGS he composed the ''[[Ode to Death]]'', a setting of a poem by Whitman, which according to Vaughan Williams is considered by many to be Holst's most beautiful choral work.<ref name=archive/>

[[File:Holst-1921.jpg|thumb|upright|Holst, caricatured as "The Bringer of Jollity", by F Sanchez, 1921]]
Holst, in his forties, suddenly found himself in demand. The [[New York Philharmonic]] and [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] vied to be the first to play ''The Planets'' in the US.<ref name=graebe/> The success of that work was followed in 1920 by an enthusiastic reception for ''The Hymn of Jesus'', described in ''[[The Observer]]'' as "one of the most brilliant and one of the most sincere pieces of choral and orchestral expression heard for some years."<ref>{{cite news|title=Music of the Week: Holst's 'Hymn of Jesus'|newspaper=The Observer|date=28 March 1920|page=11}}</ref> ''The Times'' called it "undoubtedly the most strikingly original choral work which has been produced in this country for many years."<ref>{{cite news|title=Holst's 'Hymn of Jesus'|newspaper=The Times|date=26 March 1920|page=12}}</ref>

To his surprise and dismay Holst was becoming famous.<ref name=archive/> Celebrity was something wholly foreign to his nature. As the music scholar [[Byron Adams]] puts it, "he struggled for the rest of his life to extricate himself from the web of garish publicity, public incomprehension and professional envy woven about him by this unsought-for success."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Adams|first=Byron|title=Gustav Holst: The Man and His Music by Michael Short|journal=Musical Quarterly|date=Winter 1992|volume=78|issue=4|page=584|jstor=742478}} {{subscription}}</ref> He turned down honours and awards proffered to him,{{refn|The two exceptions Holst made to this rule were [[Yale University]]'s [[Howland Memorial Prize]] (1924) and the Gold Medal of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]] (1930).<ref name=dnb/>|group=n}} and refused to grant interviews or sign autographs.<ref name=graebe/>

Holst's comic opera ''[[The Perfect Fool]]'' (1923) was widely seen as a satire of ''[[Parsifal]]'', though Holst firmly denied it.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mr. Holst on his New Opera|newspaper=The Observer|date=22 April 1923|page=9}}</ref> The piece, with [[Maggie Teyte]] in the leading soprano role and [[Eugene Aynsley Goossens|Eugene Goossens]] conducting, was enthusiastically received at its premiere in the [[Royal Opera House]].<ref name=timespf/> At a concert in Reading in 1923, Holst slipped and fell, suffering [[concussion]]. He seemed to make a good recovery, and he felt up to accepting an invitation to the US, lecturing and conducting at the [[University of Michigan]].<ref>Holst (1981), p. 59</ref> After he returned he found himself more and more in demand, to conduct, prepare his earlier works for publication, and, as before, to teach. The strain caused by these demands on him was too great; on doctor's orders he cancelled all professional engagements during 1924, and retreated to Thaxted.<ref>Holst (1981), pp. 60–61</ref> In 1925 he resumed his work at St Paul's Girls' School, but did not return to any of his other posts.<ref name=h198164>Holst (1981), p. 64</ref>