Editing Gustav Holst (section)

====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/>