My Sweetheart's Like Venus

My Sweetheart's Like Venus (Mae 'nghariad i'n Fenws) is one of the 12 Welsh Folk Songs Gustav Holst arranged for a cappella chorus of mixed Voices (SATB) in 1930-31. Holst's absorption of folksong, notonly in the melodic sense but in terms of its simplicity and economy of expression, helped to develop a style that many of his contemporaries, even admirers, found austere and cerebral. Against charges of coldness in hismusic, scholars and critics alike point to the 12 Welsh Folk Songs as works of true warmth.

As an experienced instrumentalist and orchestra member, Holst understood music from the standpoint of his players and madesurethat, however challenging, their parts were always practicable a compositional characteristic still well received and appreciated by performers and audiences today.