Editing Imogen Holst (section)

==Background==

===Early life and family===
[[File:House on The Terrace, Barnes - geograph.org.uk - 1309706.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The house in [[Barnes, London|Barnes]] where the Holst family lived between 1908 and 1913]]
Imogen Holst was born on 12 April 1907 at 31 Grena Road, [[Richmond, London|Richmond]], a riverside town to the west of London.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|p=2}} Her parents were [[Gustav Holst|Gustav Theodore Holst]], an aspiring composer then working as a music teacher, and Isobel, ''née'' Harrison. The Holst family, of mixed Swedish, German and Latvian ancestry, had been in England since 1802 and had been musicians for several generations.{{refn|The family's name was "von Holst" until Gustav changed it in 1918, during the First World War.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30928|page=11615|date=1 October 1918|}}</ref>|group= n}} Gustav followed this family tradition; while studying at the [[Royal College of Music]] (RCM), he met Isobel Harrison, who sang in one of the amateur choirs that he conducted. He was immediately attracted to her, and they were married on 22 July 1901.{{sfn|Holst|1969|p=29}}

While attempting to establish himself as a composer, Gustav Holst worked first as an orchestral trombonist, and later as a teacher. In 1907 he held teaching posts at [[James Allen's Girls' School]] in [[Dulwich]], and [[St Paul's Girls' School]] (SPGS) in [[Hammersmith]], where he was director of music.<ref>{{cite web|last= Matthews|first= Colin|title= Holst, Gustav(us Theodore von)|url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/13252?q=Gustav+Holst&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1|publisher= Oxford Music Online|work= Grove Music Online|accessdate= 21 February 2014}} {{subscription}}</ref> From 1907 he acted as director of music at [[Morley College]], an adult education centre in the [[Waterloo, London|Waterloo]] district of London.<ref name=dnb>{{cite web|last=Warrack|first=John|title=Holst, Gustav Theodore (1874–1934)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33963|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=22 March 2013|author-link=John Warrack}}{{ODNBsub}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Our History|url= https://www.morleycollege.ac.uk/about/our-history|publisher= Morley College|accessdate= 27 March 2018}}</ref> When Imogen was still very small the family moved from Richmond to a small house by the river in nearby [[Barnes, London|Barnes]], which they rented from a relative. Imogen's main memories of this house were of her father working in his composing room on the top floor, which she was forbidden to visit, and of his efforts to teach her folk-songs.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=2–3}}

===Schooling===
[[File:Holst-by-rothenstein-1920.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.7| Gustav Holst circa 1920, drawn by [[William Rothenstein]] ]]
Descriptions of Imogen as a small child indicate that she had blue eyes, fair hair, an oval face reminiscent of her father's, and a rather prominent nose inherited from her mother.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=2–3}} In 1912, at the age of five, she joined the kindergarten class at the [[Froebel College|Froebel Institute]], and remained at the school for five years. Summers were often spent at the Holsts' rented country cottage at [[Thaxted]] in [[Essex]], where Gustav Holst began an annual Whitsun Festival in 1916.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=4–6}}

In 1917 Imogen began boarding at [[Eothen School|Eothen]], a small, private school for girls in [[Caterham]], where [[Jane Joseph]], Gustav's star pupil from SPGS, taught music.{{sfn|Gibbs|2000|pp=29–30}} A letter home, dated 17 July 1917, tells of "compertishions{{sic}}, and ripping prizes, and strawberries and cream for tea".{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=7–8}} At the school, Imogen studied piano with Eleanor Shuttleworth, violin with [[André Mangeot]] (described as "topping") and theory with Jane Joseph ("ripping"). Under Joseph's tuition Imogen produced her first compositions—two instrumental pieces and four Christmas carol tunes—which she numbered as Ops. 1, 2, and 3.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=9–12}}{{sfn|Tinker and Strode 2010, list|p=451}} In the summer term of 1920, she composed and choreographed a "Dance of the Nymphs and Shepherds", which was performed at the school under her direction on 9 July.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|p=15}}{{refn|The "Nymphs and Shepherds" dance music was Imogen's Op. 4, originally titled ''The Masque of the Tempest''.{{sfn|Tinker and Strode 2010, list|p=451}} |group= n}}

Imogen left Eothen in December 1920 hoping to study under Ruby Ginner at the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama,{{refn|Ruby Ginner (1886–1978) was an expert on Ancient Greek dance. She founded the Association of Teachers of the Revived Greek Dance in 1923.<ref>{{cite web|title= Ruby Ginner (1886–1978)|url= http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095853709|work= Oxford Index|publisher= Oxford University Press|accessdate= 21 February 2014}}</ref>|group= n}} but was rejected on health grounds, although there appeared to be no significant medical issue. She then studied at home under a governess, while waiting to start at [[St Paul's Girls School]] in the autumn. At Whitsun 1921 she took part as a dancer in her father's production of [[Henry Purcell|Purcell]]'s [[semi-opera]] from 1690, ''[[Dioclesian|Masque of Dioclesian]]'', held in the St Paul's School grounds and repeated a week later in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]].{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=16–17}}

In September 1921 Imogen began at [[St Paul's Girls School]], and became a boarder from Spring 1922. In July 1922 she performed a Bach Prelude and Fugue on the piano, for which Joseph praised her warmly, writing: "I think everyone enjoyed the Bach from beginning to end, they all made nice contented noises at the end of it".{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=17–20}} Imogen's SPGS years were generally happy and successful. In July 1923 she won the junior Alice Lupton piano prize, but her chances of distinction as a pianist were marred when she began to develop [[phlebitis]] in her left arm.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=22–26}}{{refn|In an obituary tribute, Ursula Vaughan Williams refers to Imogen's arm condition as "inherited from Gustav".<ref name= Obit/> In fact, Gustav Holst suffered from neuritis in his right arm, an equally disabling but unrelated condition.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=22–26}} |group= n}} Among other activities she became interested in folk music and dance, and in 1923 became a member of the [[English Folk Dance and Song Society|English Folk Dance Society]] (EFDS).{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=22–26}} In 1924–25, her final year at SPGS, Imogen founded a folk dance society in the school. At an end-of-term school concert late in July 1925, she played [[Étude Op. 10, No. 3 (Chopin)|Chopin's étude in E major]] and gave the first performance of Gustav Holst's ''Toccata''.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=29–32}}

====Royal College of Music====
[[File:Royal College of Music - April 2007.jpg|thumb|The Royal College of Music]]
Although destined like her father for the RCM, Holst first spent a year studying composition with [[Herbert Howells]], piano with Adine O'Neill and the French horn with Adolph Borsdorf, while participating in the EFDS summer schools and other musical activities.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=33–35}} In July 1926 she arranged and conducted the music for an EFDS pageant, held at Thaxted as a fund-raiser towards the building of the society's new headquarters at [[Regent's Park]].{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|p=38}} Holst began at the RCM in September 1926, studying piano with [[Kathleen Long]], composition with [[George Dyson (composer)|George Dyson]], and conducting under [[William Henry Reed|W. H. Reed]]. Her aptitude as a conductor was evident in December 1926, when she led the college's Third Orchestra in the opening movement of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s [[Symphony No. 38 (Mozart)|"Prague" Symphony]].{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=41–42}} This and other performances on the podium led ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' to speculate that Holst might eventually become the first woman to "establish a secure tenure of the conductor's platform".{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|p=46}}

In her second RCM year Holst concentrated on composition, producing several chamber works including a violin sonata, an oboe quintet, and a suite for woodwind. She took her first steps towards personal independence when she moved from the family home to a [[bedsit]] near [[Kensington Gardens]]. In 1928 she went to Belgium with the EFDS, took an Italian holiday, and made an extended trip to Germany with a group known as "The Travelling Morrice" which promoted international understanding through music and dance.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=49–52}} In October 1928 she won the RCM's Cobbett prize for an original chamber composition, her ''Phantasy'' String Quartet, and shortly afterwards was awarded the Morley Scholarship for the "best all-round student".{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=53–55}} The quartet was broadcast by the BBC on 20 March 1929,{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|p=60}} but for her, the achievement was overshadowed by the news that month of the premature death at 34 of her early mentor Jane Joseph.{{sfn|Gibbs|2000|pp=50–51}}<ref>{{cite web|last= Gibbs|first= Alan|title= Joseph, Jane Marian|url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/52756?q=Jane+Joseph&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1|work= Grove Music Online|publisher= Oxford University Press|accessdate= 23 February 2014}}</ref>

In the winter of 1929 Holst made her first visit to Canada and the United States, as part of an EFDS party.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=67–70}} Back home, she worked on her RCM finals composition, a suite for brass band entitled ''The Unfortunate Traveller''.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|p=72}} Despite some apprehension on her part, the piece passed the examiners' scrutiny and was played at the college's end-of-year concert in July 1930.{{refn|In 1969, after Isobel Holst's death, Imogen found the manuscript of ''The Unfortunate Traveller'' among her mother's possessions. To her, the work symbolised what she perceived to be her failure as a composer, and she insisted that the manuscript be burnt.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|p=394}} |group= n}} Before then, in June, Holst learned that she had been awarded an Octavia Travelling Scholarship worth £100, which would enable her to study composition abroad.{{sfn|Grogan and Strode 2010, Part I|pp=74–76}}