The Military Band's Quest for Repertoire

The year 1908 began inauspiciously for Holst with the announcement that his opera Sita had not won the Ricordi competition, though it did receive an honorable mention. Due to his embracement of folk songs and dances, Holst's compositional style had changed considerably over the past two years; it was now leaner and more direct. Although he would later dismiss Sita as “good old Wagnerian bawling,” he was still very depressed over the results of the contest. His three teaching positions were wearing him down, and now, with the birth of Imogen, he had three mouths to feed. Just when it appeared that he might be headed for some sort of a nervous breakdown, his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams came to the rescue once again.

Vaughan Williams, who was in Paris studying with Maurice Ravel, wrote to Holst,

Holst seized on the opportunity and, having secured a leave of absence from his schools, went on a solo bicycling holiday in Algeria. He saw and heard many things that were entirely new and exciting but also some that were irritating.