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Oct
20
The Curious Coincidences of Imogen Holst
Filed Under Composers, Mysterious Music |
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Imogen Holst
Photo: Kurt Hutton |
It’s funny; the more I get to know about Imogen Holst, the more of an impact she seems to have on my life. Some very weird coincidences have come about.
Firstly, there was the letter to my Grandmother.
After she died, we were clearing out some of the cupboards in her house, and we came across a stack of letters. One was from Imogen Holst.
If I can find it, I will scan it here, but for now, I will just have to tell you what it said:
“Dear Anita….”
Imogen was replying to a letter from my grandmother about her husband, who was a composer. In need of a music-related job that would sustain the family whilst he worked at his compositions, Granny needed advice from Imogen Holst, who I believe she had met previously (though I don’t know where).
Imogen Holst suggested that my Grandfather applied for a job as a county music advisor, and recommended heartily to Granny that this would be a good way of balancing his life as a composer and yet still managing to earn a living!
And you know what? That’s exactly what my Grandfather did. He won the job of County Music Advisor to Gloucestershire, and the whole musical family - from Carducci’s to Court Lane Music - grew out of that. Would that have happened without Imogen Holst’s suggestion?
Another weird coincidence is Tom Hankey’s viola. At the Imogen Holst recording sessions, we learnt that it belongs to his Aunt, whose mother in law, Vicky Ingrams, was a great friend of Imo’s from their days at St Paul’s Girls’ School, and a dedicatee of several of Imo’s pieces. The viola had no doubt been used to play some of Imogen Holst’s music with the composer herself!
She gets everywhere, this Imogen Holst!
But perhaps the strangest coincidence of them all concerned our Dad, Timothy (cellist at the Royal Opera House, and a student at Aldeburgh back in 1974 when Imogen Holst was the director there; he remembers seeing her conduct!).
Before we had even made him aware of the Imogen Holst recording, the Opera House had scheduled a performance of Imogen Holst’s incredibly rare ‘Fall Of The Leaf’ for Solo Cello, for a concert at the Linbury Studio Theatre in Covent Garden! Not only that, but it was just two days after the original CD launch date and Book launch this weekend!
Crazy. Anyway, if you want to hear him play ‘The Fall Of The Leaf’ live, then get along to the Royal Opera House this Monday at 1pm. Details here.
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Some other Imogen Holst events this weekend:
ALDEBURGH: Saturday 20th, 3pm - Book launch of ‘Imogen Holst: A Life In Music’ - Details here.
DARTINGTON: Monday 22nd, 3pm - Christopher Tinker gives a lecture on Imogen Holst at High Cross House, Dartington, in conjunction with the current Exhibition there all about ‘Imo’, as she was known. Details here.