Hidden Holst III: Capriccio (Jazz Band Piece) (1932)

In 1932 Gustav Holst was the Visting Lecturer on Composition at Harvard University. It was an appointment that should have lasted for six months, from the beginning of the year. Whilst on post he tutored students including Elliot Carter. In January Holst received an invitation to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra for three concerts of his own music including the St. Paul's Suite, A Somerset Rhapsody, The Perfect Fool ballet music, and Hammersmith: Prelude and Scherzo.

Halfway through his visit, Holst was taken ill with a duodenal ulcer, for which he was hospitalised. He was able to resume his duties. Holst returned to England on 2 June 1932.

During his six months stay he wrote several works, including Six Choruses, H186, Eight Canons, (H187) and the Jazz Band Piece (Capriccio) (H.185).

Capriccio was composed at the instigation of the New York conductor and composer Nathaniel Shilkret. It was to be “short radio piece for Concert Band” billed for a series of programmes based on folk music themes. To this end Holst used a tune that he had devised. The work was never heard in Holst’s lifetime.

 In Imogen Holst’s A Thematic Catalogue of Gustav Holst’s Music (London, Faber Music, 1974, p.191) she quoted a letter sent to her by the composer on 13 May 1932: “On May 1, I started sketching a piece for Shilkret’s Radio jazz band in N.Y. I finished the sketch on the 4th and the full score on the 8th and the piano duet on the 11th . . . Shilkret wanted something on American airs but I’ve left them out because I prefer my own so he may reject the thing. But I’m hoping to hear it in N.Y. Usually when I write things in a hurry, I feel unwell when the result is played.”

In a letter to Holst’s New York agent, dated 29 November 1932, Nathaniel Shilkret of R.C.A. Victor Company Inc. wrote: “In reply to your recent letter regarding Mr. Gustav Holst; I spoke to Mr. Holst about writing something for my composers’ series on folk music themes, for a short radio piece (not longer than five or six minutes). Instead, Mr. Holst gave me a short modernistic composition called ‘‘[Mr] Shilkret’s Maggot.” I am very enthusiastic about this little number and hate to give it up, but I cannot play it . . . because it is not based on a definite English or American folk theme. Will Mr. Holst write me another composition (I think I mentioned “Three Blind Mice”’ to him) for the stipulated $200.00?” This latter suggestion was not taken up.

Imogen Holst wrote that he never got around to revising the “unnamed work” and this may have been because “he had too many other things to write during the last two years of his life, when he was having to spend a good deal of time in hospital.” (The Music of Gustav Holst and Holst's Music Reconsidered, OUP 1986, p.157)

It was eventually edited and rescored for orchestra by Imogen Holst during 1967. The premiere performance was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 10 January 1968 and was heard during a concert celebrating the end of Imogen’s conducting career.

Ronald Crichton, reporting on this concert for the Musical Times (March 1968, p.253f) considered that is “a jolly piece, right for this festive evening, but much less important than the concerto for two violins, which has remained, since written in 1929 for the d'Aranyi sisters, in semi-oblivion…” Sadly both works have remained in obscurity since 1968.

The “Capriccio” is described as having an ‘ABAB-coda’ structure and is noted for requiring considerable dynamic control from the players, who must be able to play fast passages loudly and then repeat them softly. This piece highlights Holst’s versatility and his ability to step outside the traditional classical genre to experiment with the jazz style.

It is an attractive work that balances moods from both sides of the Atlantic. There is certainly an English feel to the gorgeous opening viola solo: yet the heart of the work nods more to Massachusetts than to Malvern. The central section is extremely witty music that is finely scored and optimistic. There is an excellent march theme followed by an impressive chorale tune. The work concludes with a reprise of the opening tune, but now given with greater breadth and confidence.

Capriccio, with Imogen Holst conducting the English Chamber Orchestra, is available on Lyrita SRCD 223. It can be heard on YouTube, here. Alternatively, Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra’s edition on Chandos CHAN10911X, here. And there is a fascinating version for wind orchestra, played by the Philharmonia a Vent Wind Orchestra, conducted by John P Boyd on Klavier KCD-11150,  here.