Franklin Composr, Educator Publishes Study of Key English Composer

A "retired" music educator, who now calls Franklin home, Jon Ceander Mitchell has not slowed a bit since leaving behind a full-time post at University of Massachusetts.  Two summers back, Mitchell premiered his opera here in Franklin, since performed in several other venues.

The world premiere of 'Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter', a chamber orchestra, was performed in June of 2024 by a mixed ensemble of professionals and amateurs, with financial support from the Franklin Cultural District Committee, at the First Universalist Society, Franklin.  Audiences loved the story (a working class, 19th century English girl who became a founder of paleontology despite class and gender prejudice), and the music -- fresh and daring but drawing from many familiar sounds of the British Isles.

Mitchell also gave a lively talk at the Franklin Historical Museum about the scandals that rocked the Boston Symphony Orchestra a century ago, compared with which the current kerfuffle over the firing of conductor Andris Nelsons seems trivial.  And that's not to mention a traveling schedule of conducting gigs...

But the Holst project has been long in gestation and close to Mitchell's heart.  Below is his publisher's blurb about the book...

* * * * * * 

Holst and the Winds
A Legacy
By: Jon Ceander Mitchell

A detailed exploration of the works for winds by Gustav Holst, the renowned composer of The
Planets, aided by musical analysis and rich historical documentation. Gustav Holst (1874–1934) was an English composer and music educator whose work spanned four decades.

Though he remains most widely known for his orchestral suite The Planets, his works for band or wind ensemble are also performed frequently, yet have rarely been studied in such systematic detail. They vary widely in genre (from chamber music to military and brass-band works) and in
form (from sonata cycle to suite to symphonic poem). As author Jon Mitchell shows, Holst's works for winds give plentiful evidence of the many influences on him, both musical (including Wagnerian romanticism, English folk song, and Baroque polyphony) and nonmusical (e.g., Sanskrit literature, William Morris, and Walt Whitman). The book gives careful attention to these influences and to the evolution of the works through analysis of sketches and
full manuscript scores.

Holst and the Winds makes use of a wide array of primary sources, including Holst's personal papers, written correspondence, programs, and periodical reviews. Music educators, performers, conductors, and anybody who loves Holst's music will enjoy the insights provided herein.

Title details
March 2026
Pages: 360
152.4mm x 229mm
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Series: Eastman Studies in Music
Series Vol. Number: 208
Hardback: 9781648251313
£95.00 / $130.00
eBook (PDF): 9781805439905
£19.00 / $24.00
eBook (EPUB): 9781805439912
£19.00 / $24.00