Three Pieces for Oboe and String Quartet, Op. 2

Composer: HOLST, Gustav
  • Originally titled Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces), Holst first wrote Opus 2 for oboe and string quartet in 1896 when he was just 22 and still a student at the Royal College of Music.
  • In 1910, Holst revised the work, including assigning the new title, Three Pieces for Oboe and String Quartet, and officially premiered it in 1911. The three movements are as follows:
    1. March
    2. Minuet
    3. Scherzo
  • Because the complete manuscript for Fantasiestücke no longer exists, we don’t know how many pieces the work originally contained. However, we know that an “Air and Variations” was originally included in the set that has since been resurrected and published as a separate work.
  • Fun fact – nearly all of Holst’s chamber music was composed before the age of 30.1

Sources

  1. Colin Matthews, Essay in accompanying booklet, Bax / Jacob / Moeran / Holst: Chamber works for Oboe and Strings performed by Sarah Francis and the English String Quartet, CHAN 8392, 1985, compact disc.

Cut IDs

14641