In 1905 Gustav Holst became Director of Music at St. Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith, London, a post which he retained right up until his death in 1934. St. Paul's Suite was written for the school’s string orchestra in 1912. The work is in four movements: a Jig, reminiscent of English fiddle tunes; a muted Ostinato (Presto); an Intermezzo which starts fairly slowly and softly, switching abruptly to a short Vivace section. The rhythmictune here is based on an Arab song which Holst had noted in his sketch book a few years earlier while on holiday in Algeria. After this brief interlude the music returns to the slower opening tempo, and in the very last bars of the movement ‘the descending chromatic sixths are like a gesture of farewell to the good old days: never again did [Holst] indulge in such an unblushing display of nineteenth-century romanticism’--- theserather severe words are his daughter’s, quoted from her biography of her father. The Finale is framed around a familiar English folk-tune (the Dargason), which, in the course of the movement, is used as a counter-melody to the even more familiar Greensleeves. Holst was evidently fond of this tune, as he also used it as the concluding movement of his well-known Suite No. 2 in F, Op. 28b for Military Band.Durations: 1. Jig 4:00; 2. Ostinato 1:28; 3. Intermezzo 3:41; 4. Finale (The Dargason) 4:00; Total time 13:09I wrote this arrangement for SATB Saxophone Quartet in 2004, with revisions in 2015. It is a challenging yet ultimately rewarding piece for both audiences and players.contact me at james.pybus@rogers.com.
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