Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Holmes, Augusta
HOLMES, AUGUSTA, properly Augusta Mary Anne (1847–1903), composer, born in Rue de Berri, Paris, on 16 Dec. 1847, was granddaughter of Captain John Holmes of New Park, co. Tipperary, and daughter of Captain Dalkeith Holmes, who settled in Paris in 1820, and married Augusta Macgregor in 1828. As a child Augusta Holmes became passionately devoted to music, though her parents — neither of them musically inclined — gave her no encouragement. Her mother died at Versailles in 1857, and next year her father allowed the child to take up music seriously. From 1859 to 1865 she attracted attention as a piano prodigy and singer of French songs of her own composition. As early as 1862 she published some pieces under the pseudonym of 'Hermann Zenta.' After a course of instruction from H. Lambert, Klosé, and Saint-Saëns, she became a pupil of César Franck in 1876. having previously acquired no little fame by her setting of 'In Exitu Israel,' in 1873, and an opera 'Héro et Léandre,' produced at the Opéra Populaire in 1874. Her studies with Franck bore fruit in her 'Orlando Furioso' Symphony in 1877, and in her prize symphony 'Lutèce,' which was awarded second place, after Dubois and Godard (who tied for the first place), in the competition offered by the city of Paris in 1878. In 1879 she became a French citizen, and thenceforth wrote her name as Holmès. Her orchestral piece 'Les Argonautes' was performed under Pasdoloup's direction at the Concerts Populaires (24 April 1881) and was followed by the symphonic poem 'Irlande' (2 March 1882), which betrayed innate Irish sympathy, was described by Jullien as 'a creation of great worth, evincing by turns a charming tenderness, ardent passion, and masculine spirit,' and firmly established Miss Holmes's reputation. Another patriotic symphony, 'Pologne,' was given at the Concerts Populaires (9 Dec. 1883), and in 1884 she published a volume of songs, 'Les Sept Ivresses.' Her symphonic ode 'Ludus pro patria' was well received at the concerts of the Conservatoire on 4 March 1888. Its reception was, however, surpassed by her 'Ode Triomphale,' performed by a very large chorus and orchestra at the Paris Exhibition in 1889. She wrote a 'Hymn à la Paix' for the Florence Exhibition in 1890, and a symphonic suite, 'Au pays bleu,' in 1891.
Turning her attention to the lyric stage. Miss Holmes composed a four-act opera, 'La Montagne noire,' which was successfully given at the Grand Opera, Paris, on 8 Feb. 1895. Two other operas, 'Astarte' and 'Lancelot du Lac,' were from her prolific pen. Her interest in Ireland grew, and after reading much about the country she revised her symphonic poem 'Irlande,' for production at the first Feis Ceoil, in Dublin, on 18 May 1897, and she planned an Irish opera in the following year. For a time a theosophist and afterwards a spiritualist. Miss Holmes finally became a Roman catholic, and was baptised in the Dominican friary church, in the Faubourg St. Honoré, in 1902. She died at Versailles on 28 Jan. 1903. A splendid monument was unveiled to her memory in the St. Louis cemetery, Versailles, on 13 July 1904. A weeping muse is represented holding a lyre, and on the monument is inscribed a quotation from her choral symphony 'Lutèce.'
[Flood's Hist. of Irish Music, 1905; Grove's Dict. of Music, new.edit. 1906; Musical Times and Musical Herald, March 1903.]