1931-1943

Abstract The music of Job was played for the second time, conducted by the composer, in a broadcast performance from the London Regional station at Savoy Hill on 13 February 1931. By now British ballet had been born, with the foundation, early in 1930, of the Camargo Society. Geoffrey Keynes and his brother Maynard (whose wife was Lydia Lopokova) were among the leaders of this brave venture, and it was decided-on the insistence of Gustav Holst-that Job should be produced in the Society’s fourth season. The Keynes brothers and T. F. Dunhill bore the expense and Ninette de Valois was invited to be the choreographer. She and Lilian Baylis, of the Old Vic, had already seen and approved the Raverat settings on a model stage which Dr. Keynes and Mrs. Raverat had made in 1927. Miss de Valois studied the whole range of Blake’s drawings in order to gain suggestions for attitudes and gestures.