Henry Holst

Henry Holst was a Danish violinist and teacher born (in Saeby, Denmark) on July 25, 1899.  He spent quite a bit of time in England but is not related – as far as I know – to the other Holst.  He was probably the first violinist to play (in 1921 with the Berlin Philharmonic) three concertos in the same concert program – before Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, Szymon Goldberg, and Raymond Cohen did it.  (See comment below.)  Holst must have begun his violin studies while still very young but I don’t know how young nor with whom.  In 1913, he was admitted into the Royal Danish Academy of Music.  He was 14 years old.  His teachers there were Axel Gade (son of Niels Gade) and violinist/composer Carl Nielsen.  At age 18, he made his debut playing Henri Vieuxtemps’ first violin concerto, the longest violin concerto Vieuxtemps ever wrote.  He then studied further with Hungarian violinist Emil Telmanyi.  After that, he traveled to Berlin to study with Willy Hess, a German violinist who played far and wide during his career, including the U.S.  In 1923, Holst became concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic.  He was 24 years old.  He quit that post in 1931 and went to live in England where he taught at the Royal Manchester College of Music.  There, he founded the Henry Holst String Quartet which he disbanded in 1941 to start the Philharmonia Quartet which itself was disbanded in 1952.  He was also active as a soloist.  Holst gave the European Premiere of the Walton violin concerto, a work which had been championed by Jascha Heifetz for a time, in 1941.  Holst also gave the world premiere of the revised version of the concerto in 1944.  The Walton concerto is very seldom played now.  In 1945, Holst moved to London to teach at the Royal College of Music.  He was 46 years old.  Holst moved back to Denmark in 1954 where he taught at the Royal Danish College of Music.  I don’t know how many years he was there but it must have been quite a few.  Henry Holst died on October 19, 1991 at age 92, largely forgotten. 

Niels Gade

Niels Wilhelm Gade was a Danish violinist, composer, conductor, teacher, and organist born on February 22, 1817 (Beethoven was already 47 years old.) He is considered the most important Danish musician of his day. Gade began his career in 1834 as a violinist with the Royal Danish Orchestra. Nine years later, Gade’s first symphony was conducted by none other than Felix Mendelssohn in 1843. Both Schumann and Mendelssohn became his friends during the five years Gade spent in Leipzig. When Mendelssohn died, Gade was made chief conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig (1847.) Unfortunately, he had to give it up the following year - don’t ask me why. Back in Denmark, Gade became director of several musical institutions, taught at the Copenhagen Conservatory (where his pupils included Grieg and Nielsen), and played organ in various churches. Among his works (which are seldom performed) are 8 symphonies, a violin concerto, and several cantatas. Gade died on December 21, 1890, at age 73.