Gustav Holst | I Sowed The Seeds Of Love | for Brass Sextet
After purchase, you will receive the digital sheet music, and rehearsal play-along recordings created with NotePerformer 5.
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Gustav Holst (1874–1934) remains one of England’s most distinctive composers, best known for his monumental orchestral suite The Planets. Yet alongside his large‑scale works, Holst was deeply engaged with the English folksong revival of the early 20th century. He collected and arranged traditional melodies with clarity and sensitivity, bringing them into the concert hall and classroom alike.
I Sowed the Seeds of Love is the first song in Holst’s Six Choral Folksongs, Op. 36b (1916–17). The text and tune derive from a traditional English folksong noted by George Barnet Gardiner, with Holst’s arrangement highlighting its gentle pastoral imagery of sowing, growth, and blossoming love. The piece reflects Holst’s gift for transforming simple folk material into music of lyrical beauty and emotional resonance.
This brass sextet arrangement (2 Trumpets, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba) preserves the folk‑inspired lyricism while exploring the rich sonorities of brass instruments. The trumpets carry bright melodic lines, the horn and trombone provide warm harmonic support, and the euphonium and tuba ground the texture with resonant depth. Suitable for concert performance, educational repertoire, or community ensembles, this version offers both accessibility and expressive potential, allowing players to experience Holst’s folk‑song artistry through the majestic power of brass.
