Profiles

Are you fan of Gustav Holst's music? What do you like about these films?

Neil Arthur Williams
Just watched the lost Gustav Holst films and found them fascinating.Two little problems with some of the views represented on film:1. Sir Michael Tippett makes an issue of Holst’s ‘visionary’ status. This is a widely held, but likely romantically erroneous view. As a Holst scholar, I believe that it largely comes from the mass regurgitation of Imogen Holst’s various writings in respect of 'Mars, The Bringer of War' that attempt to paint Holst as having had some kind of premonition of mechanised warfare prior to the First World War’s advent of tanks. However, the true visionary behind this foresight was actually H.G. Wells who Holst is known to have read, particularly in respect of the highly mechanised attacking Martians of his bestselling sci-fi novel 'The War of the Worlds', which was written some 16 or 17 years earlier than when Holst first started gestating and composing ideas for Mars around 1913/14.2. Dr Hermia Mills remarks that Holst was not a particularly humorous man is not necessarily a reliable account, and should therefore not be taken at face value (at it appears Adrian Partington has done, judging by the online interview). There are many examples of Holst’s great sense of humour in his friendships, as a teacher, and even in his music. This is evidenced in personal letters, articles about Holst written by contemporaries, and even in his own cartoon drawings. We must remember our academic disciplines when analysing such so-called ‘primary source’ interviews; Dr Mills’ view is only one person’s view of the man, and a flawed one at that: this is an old lady recalling a childhood view of her adult teacher. I am quite sure that we have all had so-called ‘humourless’ teachers in our youth that, in reality, had great senses of humour among their colleagues and friends. We all have different facets of personality and are capable of showing different facets to different individuals or groups of people, not least a person as complex as Holst. Had Dr Mills known Holst as an adult rather than when she was a child then she would likely have had a very different view of him. Certainly, I would hate for Dr Mills’s recounted childhood opinion become common currency for how we should regard Holst as a serious or humorous man, because he was undoubtedly both.

Alyson Breuer, Chicago, IL
This is a fascinating project and I would dearly love to see the footage (Dr Howells taught while I was at SPGS - BTW, the apostophe comes behind the "s" as in " girls' ") -- is it because I am in the US that I am prevented from viewing this? Can someone please explain to me why not -- surely no copyright issues are involved?

Phill Phelps
I'm doing some research into the noise characteristics of optical soundtracks. Is it possible to contact the transfer technician to ask:If these prints were all raw footage with sync sound on tape, or did any of these reels have optical soundtracks? [Phill - please email gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk and we'll be happy to reply with an answer to your query]