On today’s date in 1874 the Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham, England. He was christened “Gustavus Theodore von Holst,” and his early works were published under that name, but he removed the Germanic “von” after World War I broke out in 1914.

At the Royal College of Music, Holst studied composition and became the close friend of fellow student Ralph Vaughan Williams. For a time, Holst earned his living by playing trombone in theater and light music ensembles, and later with a British opera. In 1905, he took a teaching post at the St. Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith, a post he kept until the end of his life. He only composed on weekends or during his summer vacations. It took him two years to write his most popular work, the orchestra suite “The Planets,” whose success baffled and dismayed Holst. “If nobody likes your work,” he argued, “you have to go on just for the sake of the work, and you are in no danger of letting the public make you repeat yourself.”

True to his word, Holst disappointed many admirers who kept hoping he’d write another big orchestral showpiece like “The Planets.” He never did.