Holst: First Suite for Military Band, Op.28 No.1

Introduction

The First Suite in E♭ for Military Band, Op. 28, No. 1, by the British composer Gustav Holst is considered one of the cornerstone masterworks in the concert band repertoire. Officially premiered in 1920 at the Royal Military School of Music, the manuscript was originally completed in 1909. Along with the subsequent Second Suite in F for Military Band, written in 1911 and premiered in 1922, the First Suite was the catalysing force that convinced many other prominent composers that serious music could be written specifically for the combination of woodwinds, percussion and brass. Works such as the English Folk Song Suite (1923) of Ralph Vaughan Williams and the William Byrd Suite (1923) of Gordon Jacob are leading examples.

The Suite in E♭ was Holst's first composition written for military band. Frederick Fennell, in Time and the Winds, observes that Holst's scoring for the work is so well conceived and organised for the band medium, that he must have had some previous experiences with groups of this kind. Indeed, Holst was himself a formidable trombonist, having already performed several seasons with the Scottish Orchestra prior to the composition of the suite. In addition, while still in college, he performed during the summers with various seaside bands, and was admittedly unsatisfied with the music that those ensembles performed. Even though these experiences likely contributed to the composition of the suite, there is no recorded commission for the work, and the reason for Holst's writing of the suite is unknown.

The majority of music played by British military bands around the turn of the 20th century consisted of popular music and orchestral transcriptions. It was during this time that the British Military band tradition was at its peak, and the term "military band" was being applied to any ensemble that incorporated woodwinds, brass and percussion. (more accurately, bands first evolved in the Military – the first 'official' band being formed in the 1600s in the Royal Artillery – hence their designation, Military). This included civilian bands organised by local police and fire brigades, and even industrial firms. Unfortunately, no serious music had yet been composed specifically for the band medium, and there was no standardised instrumentation. The lack of a set instrumentation was a major obstacle for composers, in addition to the pervasive belief that an ensemble of assorted wind instruments lacked the tonal cohesiveness to produce significant music. This is where the First Suite set itself apart.

In addition to being a serious work written for band, the suite was perfectly tailored to handle the inherent challenges of the military band due to its ingenious orchestration. As stated above, there was no standardised instrumentation from one band to the next. To address this problem, Holst scored the suite for 19 instruments, with 17 remaining parts labelled "ad lib.", meaning they were unnecessary for performance. Given that most British military bands of the day employed between 20 and 30 musicians, the 19 required parts could reasonably be expected to be covered, and the remaining parts could be added or discarded as needed without disturbing the integrity of the work.