The Hymn of Jesus

The Hymn of Jesus (1917-19) was Holst’s first major work after The Planets, and while it shows some of the latter’s technical wizardry, it’s far less extrovert, more inwardly searching. Holst had long been fascinated by Christian and Hindu mysticism, and the text he chose, from a fascinatingly left-field scripture that never made it into the Bible, fuses Eastern and Western thought and symbolism, asceticism and exquisite eroticism. Holst takes ancient Christian chants (then ‘exotic’ to many of his audience), and mixes them with daringly original choral writing, bathed in austere but luminous orchestral colours, to create music which often seems to defy the passing of time. The religious works of Britten and John Tavener, and perhaps also Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, have roots here. Ever modest and retiring, Holst was astonished by the work’s initial success; but his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams (the score’s dedicatee) was unequivocal, saying that it made him want “to get up and embrace everyone and then get drunk”.