I Vow to Thee, My Country
"I Vow to Thee, My Country" is a British patriotic hymn, created in 1921 when music by Gustav Holst had a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice set to it. The music originated as a wordless melody, which Holst later named "Thaxted", taken from the "Jupiter" movement of Holst's 1917 suite The Planets.
Sir Cecil Spring Rice
"I Vow to Thee, My Country" is popularly sung at Remembrance Day services
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed many other works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss being most crucial early in his development. The subsequent inspiration of the English folksong revival of the early 20th century, and the example of such rising modern composers as Maurice Ravel, led Holst to develop and refine an individual style.
Gustav Holst, c. 1921 photograph by Herbert Lambert
Charles Villiers Stanford, Holst's composition professor
Holst's lifelong friend Ralph Vaughan Williams
Statue of Holst at his birthplace, Cheltenham. He is shown with the baton in his left hand, his frequent practice because of the neuritis in his right arm.