Gustav Holst The Planets
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Transcript of Gustav Holst The Planets
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 Orchestra, 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 not the Roman Deities.
• 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.
• 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.