 In this work, Holst first employs the technique of bitonality—the use of two keys simultaneously.At the beginning of the 20th century, according to Matthews, it appeared that Holst might follow Schoenberg into late Romanticism.Instead, as Holst recognised afterwards, his encounter with Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" prompted his searching for a "musical idiom of the English language"; the folksong revival became a further catalyst for Holst to seek inspiration from other sources during the first decade or so of the new century.