Editing Gustav Holst (section)

===Early years===
====Family background====
[[File:Holst-family-tree.tif|thumb|upright=1.4|right|alt=family tree diagram showing Gustav in relation to three earlier generations|{{center|Holst family tree (simplified)}}]]
Holst was born in [[Cheltenham]], Gloucestershire, the elder of the two children of Adolph von Holst, a professional musician, and his wife, Clara Cox, ''née'' Lediard. She was of mostly British descent,{{refn|Clara had a Spanish great-grandmother, who eloped and lived with an Irish peer; Imogen Holst speculates whether this family scandal may have mitigated the Lediard family's disapproval of Clara's marrying a musician.<ref>Holst (1969), p. 6</ref>|group=n}} daughter of a respected [[Cirencester]] solicitor;<ref name=m3>Mitchell, p. 3</ref> the Holst side of the family was of mixed Swedish, Latvian and German ancestry, with at least one professional musician in each of the previous three generations.<ref name=m2>Mitchell, p. 2</ref>

One of Holst's great-grandfathers, Matthias Holst, born in Riga, Latvia, [[Baltic Germans|was of German origin]]; he served as composer and harp-teacher to the Imperial Russian Court in [[Saint Petersburg|St Petersburg]].<ref name=grove/> Matthias's son Gustavus, who moved to England with his parents as a child in 1802,<ref name=short9>Short, p. 9</ref> was a composer of salon-style music and a well-known harp teacher. He appropriated the aristocratic prefix "von" and added it to the family name in the hope of gaining enhanced prestige and attracting pupils.{{refn|Imogen Holst records, "A second cousin in the eighteenth century had been honoured by the German Emperor for a neat piece of work in international diplomacy, and the unscrupulous Matthias had calmly borrowed the 'von' in the hopes that it might bring in a few more piano pupils."<ref name=h196952/>|group=n}} 

Holst's father, Adolph von Holst, became organist and choirmaster at [[All Saints' Church, Cheltenham|All Saints' Church]], Cheltenham;<ref name="Short, p. 10">Short, p. 10</ref> he also taught, and gave piano recitals.<ref name="Short, p. 10"/> His wife, Clara, a former pupil, was a talented singer and pianist. They had two sons; Gustav's younger brother, Emil Gottfried, became known as [[Ernest Cossart]], a successful actor in the [[West End theatre|West End]], New York and [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]].<ref>Short, p. 476; "The Theatres", ''The Times'', 16 May 1929, p. 1; [[Brooks Atkinson|Atkinson, Brooks]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/1932/04/05/archives/over-the-coffee-cups-with-george-bernard-shaw-in-a-play-entitled-to.html "Over the Coffee Cups With George Bernard Shaw in a Play Entitled ''Too True to Be Good''], ''The New York Times'', p. 27, 5 April 1932 {{subscription}}; and Jones, Idwal. [https://www.nytimes.com/1937/11/07/archives/buttling-a-way-to-fame.html "Buttling a Way to Fame"], ''The New York Times'', 7 November 1937 {{subscription}}</ref> Clara died in February 1882, and the family moved to another house in Cheltenham,{{refn|Adolph moved the family from 4 Pittville Terrace (named today Clarence Road) to 1 Vittoria Walk.<ref name=dnb>{{cite web|author-link= John Warrack|last= Warrack|first= John|title= Holst, Gustav Theodore|url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33963?docPos=1|publisher= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online edition|date= January 2011|accessdate= 4 April 2013|archive-date= 20 June 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210620115640/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33963;jsessionid=888D81E17EB3EF4A9B587C296B19218D?docPos=1|url-status= live}}{{subscription}}</ref><ref>Short, p. 11</ref>|group=n}} where Adolph recruited his sister Nina to help raise the boys. Gustav recognised her devotion to the family and dedicated several of his early compositions to her.<ref name=m3/> In 1885 Adolph married Mary Thorley Stone, another of his pupils. They had two sons, Matthias (known as "Max") and Evelyn ("Thorley").<ref name=m34/> Mary von Holst was absorbed in [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophy]] and not greatly interested in domestic matters. All four of Adolph's sons were subject to what one biographer calls "benign neglect",<ref name=m34>Mitchell, pp. 3–4.</ref> and Gustav in particular was "not overburdened with attention or understanding, with a weak sight and a weak chest, both neglected—he was 'miserable and scared'."<ref>Dickinson (1957), p. 135</ref>

====Childhood and youth====
Holst was taught to play the piano and the violin; he enjoyed the former but hated the latter.<ref name=h19697>Holst (1969), p. 7</ref> At the age of twelve he took up the trombone at his father's suggestion, thinking that playing a brass instrument might improve his [[asthma]].<ref name=timesobit>{{cite news|title=Mr Gustav Holst|newspaper=The Times|date=26 May 1934|page=7}}</ref> Holst was educated at [[Pate's Grammar School|Cheltenham Grammar School]] between 1886 and 1891.<ref>Holst (1981), p. 15</ref> He started composing in or about 1886; inspired by [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay]]'s poem ''[[s:Horatius|Horatius]]'' he began, but soon abandoned, an ambitious setting of the work for chorus and orchestra.<ref name=h19697/> His early compositions included piano pieces, organ voluntaries, songs, anthems and a symphony (from 1892). His main influences at this stage were [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]], [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], [[Edvard Grieg|Grieg]] and above all [[Arthur Sullivan|Sullivan]].<ref>Mitchell, p. 5 and Holst (1969) p. 23</ref>{{refn|Ralph Vaughan Williams quoted [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'' in characterising Holst: "'in spite of all temptations [to belong to other nations]', which his name may suggest, Holst 'remains an Englishman'"<ref name=vwml>{{cite journal|last=Vaughan Williams|first=Ralph|title=Gustav Holst, I|journal=[[Music & Letters]]|date=July 1920|volume=1|issue=3|jstor=725903|pages=181–90|doi=10.1093/ml/1.3.181}} {{subscription}}</ref>|group=n}}

Adolph tried to steer his son away from composition, hoping that he would have a career as a pianist. Holst was oversensitive and miserable. His eyes were weak, but no one realized that he needed to wear spectacles. Holst's health played a decisive part in his musical future; he had never been strong, and in addition to his asthma and poor eyesight he suffered from [[neuritis]], which made playing the piano difficult.<ref>Holst (1969), p. 9</ref> He said that the affected arm was "like a jelly overcharged with electricity".<ref>Holst (1969), p. 20</ref>

After Holst left school in 1891, Adolph paid for him to spend four months in Oxford studying [[counterpoint]] with George Frederick Sims, organist of [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]].<ref>Short, p. 16</ref> On his return, Holst obtained his first professional appointment, aged seventeen, as organist and choirmaster at [[Wyck Rissington]], Gloucestershire. The post brought with it the conductorship of the [[Bourton-on-the-Water]] Choral Society, which offered no extra remuneration but provided valuable experience that enabled him to hone his conducting skills.<ref name=h19697/> In November 1891 Holst gave what was perhaps his first public performance as a pianist; he and his father played the [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] ''[[Hungarian Dances (Brahms)|Hungarian Dances]]'' at a concert in Cheltenham.<ref name=m6>Mitchell, p. 6</ref> The programme for the event gives his name as "Gustav" rather than "Gustavus"; he was called by the shorter version from his early years.<ref name=m6/>