Resumo

Debruçamo-nos sobre a produção coral de Gustav Holst, analisando-a em paralelo com os ideais educacionais e artísticos que defendia e com a sua atuação como docente e regente. Identificamos a importância da corrente socialista de Morris e Shaw em suas concepções e a aplicação desses ideais no seu projeto pedagógico e composicional. Analisamos seus procedimentos com base com base em conceitos de outros educadores (principalmente Paulo Freire) comparando-os também com experiências aplicadas na ECA-USP nos últimos 50 anos, identificando quais ganhos estas vivências podem trazer aos alunos e à comunidade externa. Trazemos a discussão da inclusão de cantores amadores nas experiências corais, destacando a forma como Holst trabalhava com públicos diversos sem diminuir a qualidade musical de suas obras, disponibilizando a outros compositores recursos decorrentes dessa prática. Ilustramos nossa argumentação através de análises de alguns elementos das peças This Have I Done For My True Love, The Song of the Blacksmith (4º movimento de Six Choral Folksongs), The Hymn of Jesus, e sobre algumas montagens e organizações de eventos, principalmente a montagem de The Fairy Queen de Henry Purcell em 1911 e os festivais de Domingo de Pentecostes realizados em Thaxted entre 1916 e 1918.

Influences of Gustav Holst’s experiences as conductor-educator in his compositional practices for choir

This study was concentrated on Gustav Holst’s body of works for choir to analyze it in parallel with the educational and artistic values he defended and with his work as a teacherand conductor. We observed in his conceptions the importance of Morris and Shaw’s socialist current as well as how he applied these values in his educational and compositional project. We studied Holst’s procedures based on other educators (especially Paulo Freire) also comparing them to some experiences applied in ECA-USP in the last 50 years, aiming to identify the gains such experiences can bring to the students and to the outside community. We brought the issue of including amateur singers to choral experiences emphasizing the way Holst used to target several audiences without affecting the musical quality of his compositions, enabling others to apply the compositional resources obtained by such practices. To illustrate our discussion, we include some elements of the pieces This Have I Done for My True Love, The Song of the Blacksmith (4th movement of the Six Choral Folksongs), and The Hymn of Jesus. We also analyze some productions and organizations of events, especially the 1911 revival of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and the Whitsun festivals held in Thaxted between 1916 and 1918.