24-25 Program Book - Flipbook - Page 23
The Planets (1918)
GUSTAV (US THEODORE VON) HOLST
(September 21, 1874-May 25, 1934)
Gustav Holst was born into an English family with
a musical heritage. His first compositions appeared
in his early teens. Early on, Holst was obsessed with
the music of Wagner and the idealistic philosophies
of Whitman and Morris. Later, he also became
interested in Hindu literature and philosophy,
and took lessons in Sanskrit. In 1905, Holst was
appointed head of music at St Paul’s Girls’ School,
Hammersmith, where he remained until the end of
his life. His reputation as a composer grew steadily
during the years before World War I, but it was not
until The Planets received its first performance that
he achieved genuine recognition.
Holst originally conceived The Planets as “a series of mood pictures,” and
momentum on the piece really picked up after Holst heard music by Debussy,
Schoenberg, and Stravinsky who visited England in the 1910s. The first public
performance of the whole work was not given until 1920, but its reputation had
already been established by the private first performance in 1918 and several
subsequent partial performances.
The concept of the work is astrological rather than astronomical: each movement
is intended to convey ideas and emotions associated with the influence of the
planets on the psyche, not the Roman deities, even though the implications of
the subtitles, “Bringer of…” etc. suggest otherwise. It has also been suggested
that Holst injected a great deal of his musical personality into the piece: unbridled
ambition and passion in Mars, beauty and love in Venus, the speed of thought and
intellect in Mercury, optimism and expansion in Jupiter, seriousness of discipline
and authority in Saturn, awakening and rebelliousness in Uranus, and mystery
and dreams in Neptune. The sudden popular success of The Planets led to the
publication and performance of many earlier works, though Holst himself grew to
resent the piece as it overshadowed the rest of his music.
CLASSICAL SERIES STAR WARS AND THE PLANETS 23
