In his use of authentic Englsh folksongs Gnostic texts and Vedic hymns one can discern Holst’s search for a compositional Voice beyond the constraints of the European canon in the early 1900’s. In 1916 he published Six ChoralFolk Songs of which Swansea Town is the final number.The setting is a demanding one for amateur Chorus. There is a particularly effective passage in the middle that evokes a storm at sea before resolving the story with thesailors in a tavern anticipating another trip to sea.Gustav Holst has earned a place among the most revered of late 19th and early 20th century composers and is best known for his enduring Orchestral suite The Planets.
