Gustav HolstThe Planets

By Spencer Vail

His Life

• Born September 21st 1874 in Gloucestershire, England

• Father: Adolph Holst was a harp composer• Due to constant illness as a child he picked up

music quite easily.• Began composing around 12• As a child could play the piano, violin and

trombone

His Life Cont.

• Educated at Cheltenham grammar school for boys

• Attended Royal college of Music on scholarship, where he studied composition with Charles Stanford

• Met best friend Ralph Wiliams

His Life Cont.

• While at Royal college Holst obsessively began studying the music of Wagner.

• Joined the Hammersmith society while at Royal

• Holst became a socialist for the rest of his life.

His Life Cont.

• First music job was with Carl Rosa Opera Company and the Scottish Orchestra

• Married in 1901 to Emily Harrison, a soprano.

• His only daughter was born in 1907 her name was Imogen

His Life Cont.

• First teaching job was being a music master at the James Allen Girls school in London.

• Shortly later became the Director of Music at St Pauls Girls school.

• Finally he took a position of the Director of Music at Morely College.

His Life Cont.

• Holst traveled to Algeria in 1908, this experience inspired the piece Beni Mora

• Holst was a frequent traveler of the world.• His Travels to Spain were his most important

His Life Cont.

• While living in Essex, Holst began work on the Planets.

• In 1922 he used technological advances to record his music with the London Symphony Orechestra, and did a complete recording of The Planets.

• Later in 1927 Holst composed the piece Egdon Heath

His Life Cont.

• Holst suffered from poor health his entire life and finally died in London following a stomach surgery in May of 1934.

Composition History:The Planets

• The Planets as a whole is based on Astrology.• Despite common belief Holst based this piece

on the influence the planets have on the psych no the Roman Dieties.

• The idea of The Planets came to Holst in 1913 while in Spain.

Composition History Continued

• The Planets was done originally as a piano duet, except for Neptune which was to be done by an organ alone.

• Holst later rewrote the whole piece to be done by an entire orchestra.

Composition History Cont.

• The Planets was written to be a seven movement orchestra piece.

• It was officially created in between 1914 and 1916 while Holst lived in Essex.

• Each movement was named after a separate planet, excluding Earth

• Since produced as a full orchestra piece it has become one of the most widely played and popular pieces.

Listening GuideThe Planets: Mars

• :32 the entire Orchestra begins a crescendo.• :47 orchestra plays at a dynamic level of a

strong Mezzo forte.• 1:00 Strings join the brass in playing the

melody till it climaxes to a cadence • 1:25 The brass plays a new melody with the

trumpets becoming the lead voice

Mars Continued

• 3:00 A slower melody is played by the orchestra in a lower voice.

• This part of the piece the over all sound becomes incredibly dark and mysterious.

• At 3:27 The trumpets and snare drums play an accented triplets to build up before the next climax.

Mars Continud

• 4:12 this is the climax of the piece here the whole orchestra is playing at a dynamic level to in a dark tone.

• Later around 4:38 the dynamic level drops to a forte level. The sound being produced is dark and aggressive.

• At the end around 6:34 the strings add the final build to the end of the piece and finally end on a tonic cord.

The Planets:Jupiter

• :30 The strings being with repeated sixteenth notes followed by horns and low brass exchanging melody

• At 1:45 the horns start a new melody with the strings playing down the beats.

• 3:11 starts with the strings playing a unison line with a crescendo up to the top phrase.

Jupiter Continued

• 4:00 the range of the melody is in a much higher range played by the strings.

• 4:38 Section C climaxes, the downbeats continue to be strong with the strings at a fortissimo dynamic level

• 5:03 the woodwinds reintroduce previously played themes with the clarinet, flute, and oboe

Jupiter Continued

• 5:26 The brass join the woodwinds in playing reintroduced previous themes.

• 6:47 There is a key change and a driving motion with an increased tempo, the trumpets become quite loud and exchange melody with the horns and low strings.

• 7:26 A recapitulation of section C combined with the melody of Section B with low voices playing the melody.

• The piece ends with low brass and percussion playing quite fortissimo and short sixteenth notes, while the strings and high woodwinds play a repeated pattern similar to the opening section.