597 - Gustav Holst Signed 1927 ‘The Golden Goose’ Sheet Music Booklet (First Edition)

Gustav Holst Signed 1927 ‘The Golden Goose’ Sheet Music Booklet (First Edition) English composer, arranger, and teacher (1874-1934) best known for his orchestral suite The Planets. First edition sheet music booklet for Gustav Holst’s choral ballet The Golden Goose, vocal score, 43 pages, 7 x 10, published by Oxford University Press in 1927. The first page, which contains the scenario and “Notes on Staging,” is stamped “Complimentary Copy” and signed and inscribed at the head in ink by Holst, “Edgar Lane from Gustav Holst.” In very good to fine condition, with a small tear to the lower spine, a few small ink spots to the front and back covers, and light scattered foxing to the interior. Accompanied by a custom black folding presentation portfolio with a sueded interior and gilt-lettered cover label. Composed in 1926 and dedicated to Morley College, The Golden Goose was a choral ballet based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, adapted and designed for the stage by Holst’s former pupil and musical associate Jane M. Joseph. The work grew out of the English folk-song and folk-dance revival associated with Holst’s friend Cecil Sharp and was written for the amateur and student musicians with whom Holst worked closely. Designed primarily for outdoor performance, it combines chorus and orchestra with mime and group dancing in telling the story of a princess who cannot laugh until the comic procession created by the magical Golden Goose finally breaks her spell. The first performance took place in the gardens of Bute House, Brook Green, Hammersmith, on May 24, 1926, with students of Morley College and Holst’s pupils from St. Paul’s Girls’ School, conducted by the composer.