Imogen Holst's Music, 1962–84

Abstract

Few Musicians know of Imogen Hoist's work as a composer. She entered the R.C.M. in 1926, won an open scholarship for composition in 1927, the Cobbett Prize of 1928 with a Phantasy String Quartet, and an Octavia travelling scholarship in 1929. She was in league with the rising number of women musicians in London at the time, composing for the Anne Macnaghten Quartet, Victoria Reid and Sylvia Spencer among others; her works were performed and broadcast along with those of Lutyens and Maconchy. She was also developing her career as a pianist, undertaking much accompaniment work. Neuritis put an end to this, and, as she remained unmarried, she needed to find work to support herself financially. She joined the staff of the English Folk Dance and Song Society and began work as a school music teacher. An enormous quantity of arrangements ensued, most of which were published. As a result, her output became best known in the field of folk song arrangement, either for educational purposes or for the EFDSS. During the 1930's the only compositions she undertook were little pieces to help in her teaching. Her list of compositions did grow substantially in the following decade (during which she founded and directed the music department at Dartington), but the quantity and quality of them remained little recognized.