This is the first published edition of "Country Dance" H.App 1,21 (1892) from the operetta Lansdown Castle (or The Sorcerer of Tewkesbury) edited by John Wright.
Orchestration: Flute, Clarinet in Bb, Bassoon, Cornet (or Trumpet in Bb)
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
The young Holst became acquainted with opera in a big way in July 1892, when he took a train to London to hear Wagner's Gotterdammerung at Covent Garden, conducted by Gustav Mahler. On a rather humbler scale, his own main composition of 1892 was a two-act operetta entitled Lansdown Castle (or The Sorcerer of Tewkesbury), for which a local Cheltenham resident (Major A.C. Cunningham) wrote the libretto. The local newspaper described the plot as 'a slender stringing together, in a whimsical way, of various incidents, more or less improbable'. On 22 December 1892 some selections from the work were performed at a Grand Orchestral Concert at the Assembly Rooms in Cheltenham, conducted by the composer, in which this Country Dance is likely to have appeared. The first (and possibly only) complete performance of the operetta took place the following February at the Cheltenham Corn Exchange with piano accompaniment only, played by Holst himself.
A PACK includes a full score plus a complete set of parts including strings 4/4/3/4/2.
Duration 3½ minutes