KS2 BBC Ten Pieces | British Composer, Gustav Holst

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Music Quiz - Ten Pieces - Gustav Holst (Questions)

Explore Gustav Holst and how he creates bold musical pictures. Listen for unusual instrument sounds, strong rhythms, and changing dynamics that make the orchestra feel exciting and full of movement.

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(quiz starts below)

Fascinating Fact:

In the opening, the string players use col legno, which means striking the strings with the wooden part of the bow for a sharper, more percussive sound.

In KS2 Music, Holst is a great composer for learning how orchestras use sound colour and musical elements to create atmosphere. Pupils can describe how different instruments, rhythms, and dynamics combine to make music feel mysterious, energetic, or powerful.

Key Terms

Orchestration: How a composer chooses and combines instruments to create particular sounds.
Percussive: A sound like tapping or striking, similar to a drumbeat.
Technique: A special way of playing an instrument to change the sound it makes.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

Who was Gustav Holst for KS2 music?

Gustav Holst was a British composer known for orchestral music that uses strong rhythms and vivid sound colours to create powerful moods and musical scenes.

What does orchestration mean in music?

Orchestration means how a composer uses different instruments in an orchestra, choosing which ones play the melody, accompaniment, or effects to create a particular sound.

How can I describe Holst’s music using musical elements?

You can describe Holst’s music by talking about the tempo, dynamics, rhythm, texture, and how the instruments change the atmosphere from quiet and tense to loud and dramatic.

Try These Related Quizzes

In which British spa town was he born, in 1874?

[ ]	Tunbridge Wells
[ ]	Cheltenham
[ ]	Buxton
[ ]	Bath

Which were Holst's original instruments, in his own right as a performing musician?

[ ]	Piano and viola
[ ]	Voice and clarinet
[ ]	Piano / organ, violin and trombone
[ ]	Cello and oboe

Which of these was his correct full name, as born and baptised?

[ ]	Gustavus Theodore von Holst
[ ]	Gustav Holst
[ ]	Augustus von Holstein
[ ]	Gustavus Scharnholst

Besides the neuritic arm, Holst's health was dogged, all his life, by two other problems: what were they?

[ ]	Frequent heavy nosebleeds and sciatica
[ ]	Food allergies and an intolerance of bright sunlight
[ ]	Haemophilia and flat feet
[ ]	Asthma and poor vision

His first work was performed in 1893 while he was still in his teens. What was it?

[ ]	A piano concerto
[ ]	The music for an operetta, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan
[ ]	An organ sonata
[ ]	A suite of dances and marches for brass band

Which of his instruments did he principally play to earn extra money while studying at the Royal College of Music?

[ ]	The piano
[ ]	The trombone
[ ]	The violin
[ ]	The viola

Which of the following British composers were influential teachers and/or friends of Holst, during and beyond his period of study at the Royal College?

[ ]	Charles Villiers Stanford
[ ]	Ralph Vaughan Williams
[ ]	Hubert Parry
[ ]	All of the above

Another movement from Holst's Planets, Jupiter, contains the magnificent slow theme also known widely as the tune for the hymn I vow to Thee, my Country. In hymnals and organ-lofts it is known by the name of which East Anglian village, where Holst had a house?

[ ]	Cranham
[ ]	Thaxted
[ ]	Wivinghoe
[ ]	Creeksea

Apparently, the guardians of Holst's estate and heritage filed a lawsuit in 2006, complaining that the score for a blockbusting movie had clearly 'borrowed' identifiable elements from his Mars: which, allegedly, was the offending film?

[ ]	Star Wars
[ ]	Ben Hur
[ ]	Gladiator
[ ]	The War of the Worlds

10.

What was the title of Holst's later opera, from which he also extracted an orchestral ballet suite?

[ ]	Checkmate
[ ]	The Bartered Bride
[ ]	Pilgrim's Progress
[ ]	The Perfect Fool

Music Quiz - Ten Pieces - Gustav Holst (Answers)

In which British spa town was he born, in 1874?

[ ]	Tunbridge Wells
[x]	Cheltenham
[ ]	Buxton
[ ]	Bath

His birthplace now houses an excellent and interesting museum

Which were Holst's original instruments, in his own right as a performing musician?

[ ]	Piano and viola
[ ]	Voice and clarinet
[x]	Piano / organ, violin and trombone
[ ]	Cello and oboe

He did not become a concert pianist due to neuritis in his right arm, but as a young man he used to walk 15+ miles (~25km) each way to play the village organ at Wyck Rissington in the Cotswolds

Which of these was his correct full name, as born and baptised?

[x]	Gustavus Theodore von Holst
[ ]	Gustav Holst
[ ]	Augustus von Holstein
[ ]	Gustavus Scharnholst

In broad terms his lineage was of German-speaking musicians from the Baltic Coast. He dropped the 'von' around the time of the First World War, since it marked him out as more of an apparent 'enemy' than he ever actually was

Besides the neuritic arm, Holst's health was dogged, all his life, by two other problems: what were they?

[ ]	Frequent heavy nosebleeds and sciatica
[ ]	Food allergies and an intolerance of bright sunlight
[ ]	Haemophilia and flat feet
[x]	Asthma and poor vision

... Yes, alas, despite all that healthful walking in his youth. But despite all this, he lived to almost twice the age of the likes of Mozart and Schubert, dying only in his 60th year. Meanwhile he was also a teetotaller and vegetarian; the neuritis led him more often to conduct left-handed (as in the statue at his birthplace)

His first work was performed in 1893 while he was still in his teens. What was it?

[ ]	A piano concerto
[x]	The music for an operetta, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan
[ ]	An organ sonata
[ ]	A suite of dances and marches for brass band

It was apparently entitled Lansdowne Castle, or The Sorcerer of Shrewsbury (which certainly rings many of the right G&S 'bells')

Which of his instruments did he principally play to earn extra money while studying at the Royal College of Music?

[ ]	The piano
[x]	The trombone
[ ]	The violin
[ ]	The viola

One can (perhaps with slight difficulty) picture him playing in seaside holiday bands and orchestra pits ~ all useful experience, the income from which (such as it was) helped pay for him to sit audience-side at the opera and elsewhere

Which of the following British composers were influential teachers and/or friends of Holst, during and beyond his period of study at the Royal College?

[ ]	Charles Villiers Stanford
[ ]	Ralph Vaughan Williams
[ ]	Hubert Parry
[x]	All of the above

If you look at the Music List for any respectable British cathedral or choral parish church, or indeed for national occasions such as Remembrance and coronations, you will find these names cropping up repeatedly (often alongside Elgar, a broad contemporary ~ but who tended to work independently of the Establishment, for various reasons we needn't go into here)

[ ]	Cranham
[x]	Thaxted
[ ]	Wivinghoe
[ ]	Creeksea

Cranham (Ans.1) meanwhile is his tune for In the Bleak Midwinter ~ the version usually sung by whole congregations (the choir version with solos is by Harold Darke)

[ ]	Star Wars
[ ]	Ben Hur
[x]	Gladiator
[ ]	The War of the Worlds

This intriguing story then appears to have petered out. (It is by no means the only such one ~ though there appear thankfully to be no others involving Holst ~ as there are only so many notes for composers to make use of!)

10.