Thaxted (tune)

The Manse in Thaxted, where Gustav Holst lived from 1917 to 1925

"Thaxted" is a hymn tune by the English composer Gustav Holst, based on the stately theme from the middle section of the Jupiter movement of his orchestral suite The Planets and named after Thaxted, the English village where he lived much of his life. He adapted the theme in 1921 to fit the patriotic poem "I Vow to Thee, My Country" by Cecil Spring Rice but that was as a unison song with orchestra.[1] It did not appear as a hymn-tune called "Thaxted" until his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams included it in Songs of Praise in 1926.[2]

  1. ^ Holst, Imogen (1974). A Thematic Catalogue of Gustav Holst's Music. Faber. p. 145. ISBN 978-0571100040.
  2. ^ Vaughan Williams, Ralph; Shaw, Martin; Dearmer, Percy, eds. (1926). Songs of Praise. Oxford University Press.