This Have I Done for My True Love

[4] There he became aware of the ancient Cornish carol "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day" thanks to the town's vicar, Conrad Noel,[5] who, having come across it in an 1833 collection edited by William Sandys, copied out the words and pinned them up in church.

Thinking the carol's traditional tune rather uninspiring, Holst produced his own setting for mixed choir,[6] which, though it betrays the contrapuntal and harmonic influence of the English madrigalists,[7] uses a modal melody[6] so redolent of folksong that it was frequently mistaken for one.

[6] The words of the carol present the idea of the redemption of mankind through "the General Dance";[8] an image which so intrigued Holst that he went on to look for other works connecting dance with worship, and this search soon led to his composing the Hymn of Jesus.

[1] The first London performance took place at the Aeolian Hall on 23 December 1919, the choir being the Oriana Madrigal Society conducted by Charles Kennedy Scott.

[8] By 1937 it was being described as his best-known work;[11] it remains a choral favourite[12] and has often been called a small masterpiece.