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| Latest News and Reviews |
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Holst Birthplace Museum at the Everyman Victorian Street Fair! |
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Monday, October 03, 2011 |
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On a hot sunny afternoon at the beginning of October 2011, a walk down Regent Street in Cheltenham was a journey back through time, back 120 years in fact as a Victorian Street fair celebrated the opening of Cheltenham’s new opera house and theatre, known today as the Everyman Theatre. In 1891 Gustav Holst was still at the Grammar School with a self-evident talent as a pianist and an emerging composer. His father Adolph was still organist and choirmaster at All Saints’ Church after more than twenty years, As well as teaching he played the piano regularly on the concert platforms of the town, occasionally performing keyboard duets with Gustav.
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LEFT: Gustav Holst Aged 11
RIGHT Aaron Le Maistre as the young violinist. |
Young Gustav could again be found In Regent Street, 2011, playing his violin. His older self was also there in walking gear and, complete with trombone. Shy though Gustav was, he enthusiastically distributed Museum leaflets to those who passed by the Museum stall . They were joined by the maid Julia and some of her friends and there was much interest in the HBM stall.
Many thanks to Sara Salvidge for organising and participating and to Liz Auster, and volunteers Velia Stevens, John Drywood and Richard De Carteret (as a very convincing Gustav) and especially Aaron Le Maistre as the young ,violin playing, Gustav – just as in the photograph. Aaron’s sister is seen sitting at the desk. The afternoon was a real success for the Museum. |
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Holst team wins a prize and trophy in the
Rotary Cheltenham Circular Challenge August 2011 |
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Circular Challenge: Team walks that extra mile to ensure challege success
‘The Museum entered a team of five for the Cheltenham Circular Challenge organised annually by Cleeve Vale Rotary and were delighted to find they had won the Corporate Team Challenge Trophy and a prize of £150 to recognize and to add to the £1,400 they raised through sponsorship. The awards were handed over outside the Museum recently. Special congratulations go to Carol Sadie and Richard Smith who both covered the full 26 mile course’.
Read Press Article |
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The Gustav Holst Way is Officially launched by the BBC's
Mark Cummings. |
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Click Image to view more information about The Gustav Holst Way |
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Katharine MacDonald
visits the von Holst Bicentenary Exhibition |
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One of the principle lenders to the recent Theodor von Holst Bicentenary Exhibition was granted a special visit last Sunday at the Holst Birthplace Museum in Cheltenham. Katharine MacDonald, accompanied by her grand-daughter Rachel, was taken round the exhibition, after it had officially closed, by organiser Max Browne and Curator Laura Kinnear to view the key works collected by her grand father, the sculptor Alexander Munro and their historical importance for the ongoing appraisal of Holst in British Romatic Art. These works form the backbone of discoveries, recently made and reported, that greatly strengthen the link of Holst to the Pre-Raphaelite circle of artists and in particular to their charismatic leader Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Katharine, who is now 97, is the guardian of her grandfather’s important collection and relates a family anecdote of how many of Rossetti’s drawings were ‘saved from the waste-bin’ by Munro’s admiration for his friend’s draughtsmanship and his diligence in preserving the dozens of drawings that might have otherwise been lost. The result of this legacy has been seen in recent weeks as two revelations relating to works by Rossetti and Holst in Katharine’s collection have led a leading art historian to declare that it has ‘given a new dimension to Rossetti scholarship’ - by association the same can be said of that of his artistic predecessor, Theodor von Holst, too.
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Katharine MacDonald
In the Regency room of
The Gustav Holst Birthplace Museum |
During the three month run of the exhibition it has been revealed that Rossetti originally possessed the Holst sketchbook (the only one known) owned by Munro and that it was Rossetti that made the mysterious watercolour version of Holst’s masterpiece, The Bride painted in 1842 and bought by Munro’s early patron the Duchess of Sutherland. Rossetti saw it sometime later in its London home at Stafford House and reminisced of it as ‘a beautiful picture’.
In the next few years Katharine and her family are hoping to generate sufficient interest in their extensive collection to enable it to have a more permanent home near Alexander Munro’s birthplace in Inverness, Scotland
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| Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Bride watercolour sketch c1845-55 |
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| The drawing is on show at the Holst Bicentenary Exhibition until 11 December |
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Editor’s Note
Theodor von Holst: his Art and the Pre-Raphaelites 2 September – 11 December 2010. Theodor von Holst was the great-uncle of Gustav Holst (1874-1934), the composer of The Planets who was born in Cheltenham. The exhibition has been organized by the Holst Birthplace Museum, in co-operation with Max Browne, who is the leading specialist on von Holst. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
Contact Details:
Laura Kinnear, Curator Holst Birthplace Museum 4 Clarence Road Cheltenham GL52 2AY 01242 524846
holstmuseum@btconnect.com
www.holstmuseum.org.uk |
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Here comes Rossetti’s ‘Lost’ Bride
24 November 2011
DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE
A previously lost watercolour drawing by the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti has been found. It is a sketch of the painting, The Bride by the Gothic-Romantic artist Theodor von Holst (1810-1844) which is currently on display at the Holst Birthplace Museum, Cheltenham as part of the exhibition, Theodor von Holst: His Art & The Pre-Raphaelites. The sketch and painting have now been reunited, and are being exhibited side by side.
Rossetti’s high regard for the work of his romantic predecessor Theodor von Holst (1810-44) has always been known. Indeed he called Theodor von Holst ‘that great painter’ and owned one of von Holst’s sketchbooks. The Bride sketch, although previously known about, had been mislaid for many years, and until it resurfaced a few weeks ago it was attributed to one of the ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ circle. Further appraisal of the work by amongst others the Theodor von Holst scholar Max Browne reveals it to be almost certainly by Rossetti himself.
Once belonging to Rossetti’s sculptor friend, Alexander Munro, the sketch is still in private hands. It is mounted in one of Munro’s ‘commonplace’ notebooks along with many other less finished sketches by Rossetti.
This is very significant discovery, particularly in terms of von Holst’s reputation, adding considerably to the mounting evidence of admiration for him from the central figure of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, the most important group of artists in British art history. It also adds much to the story of Rossetti, linking him once again to a beautiful and enigmatic woman.
Laura Kinnear, Curator of the Holst Birthplace Museum says, ‘This discovery really shows what an influence Theodor von Holst was on the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Rossetti’s beautiful drawing is a tribute to his love of von Holst’s work. The public have a real opportunity to see the sketch on display in the next couple of weeks before it returns to a private collection.’ |
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Martin Myrone, Curator of 18th & 19th Century British Art, Tate Britain came to Cheltenham 3rd September to give a special talk about the art of Theodor von Holst as part of the exhibition, Theodor von Holst His Art & The Pre-Raphaelites. He is shown here with Laura Kinnear, Curator of the Holst Birthplace Museum at the lecture theatre at the University of Gloucestershire. |
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Oral History Project
The Museum is currently involved in collecting oral and written reminiscences from individuals who have connections to Gustav and Imogen Holst and 4 Clarence Road – now the Holst Birthplace Museum. Please contact the Museum if you have any reminiscences you would like to share or click here to download a reminiscence sheet.
In December 2008 the Museum was very fortunate to record the memories of Margaret Eliot who was taught by Holst at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London in 1927. |
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Young Roots Heritage Lottery Fund project
with Balcarras School, Cheltenham
In January 2009 the Museum received funding to run a series of composition workshops for a group of music pupils at Balcarras School. The aim of the project was for the group to produce a piece of music inspired by Gustav Holst’s Planets suite.
The pupils worked with the composer and Holst scholar Raymond Head, as well as a sitar player, a mandolin player and a percussion specialist.
The music was performed at Balcarras School and in the Imperial Gardens to mark The 75th Anniversary of Holst’s death, and at Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, as part of a month long Festival of Celebration exhibition of the project. The Festival of Celebration also showcased work produced by Bournside School who worked with Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, and Cirencester College who worked with the Corinium Museum. |
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