Considered by many to be Holst's most beautiful choral work, Ode to Death was composed in 1919 as a tribute to friends who died in World War I. Using the poetry of Walt Whitman, who he considered a mystic new world prophet, Holst set the last section of "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" using open chords with the feeling of infinite space. This haunting classic is now available in a newly engraved and thoroughly researched vocal score by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr. The large score and orchestra parts are also available from Serenissima.