It was first performed in 1934, the year of his death, by its dedicatee, the violist Lionel Tertis, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult.
[2] In 1932 Holst contracted haemorrhagic gastritis caused by a duodenal ulcer, followed by periods of related ill-health which recurred at intervals for the rest of his life.
[3] Suffering from pain and weakness, he turned in 1933 to an idea he had previously had of writing something for the violist Lionel Tertis, whom he rated among the greatest of living instrumentalists.
[7] In 1949 Bernard Shore recalled that the Lyric Movement's initial performers had found it "bare, impersonal music, terribly aloof", but he asserted that it had since become "appreciated as a cherished gift to the viola player".
Among contemporary critics, Colin Matthews believed that it "cannot fail to impress with [its] sincerity and depth of feeling – the 'tender austerity' of which he himself spoke",[13] while Michael Short has written that it is a thoughtful, well-organized yet rhapsodic piece which displays a free, relaxed lyricism and avoids the mannerisms apparent in many of Holst's works from the previous ten years.