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Britannica Singapore > Encyclopedia Categories > Music > Holst, Gustav(us Theodore von)

Holst, Gustav(us Theodore von)

(born Sept. 21, 1874, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Eng.—died May 25, 1934, London) British composer. The son of an organist, he studied at the Royal College of Music. There he met Ralph Vaughan Williams, who became a friend for life. He made his living first by playing trombone, then as a teacher. Always frail, after a collapse in 1923 he gave up teaching to devote the rest of his life to composition. His most popular piece is the vividly orchestrated suite (1916); other works include the charming for strings (1913), the (1917), and the (1930).

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