The Planets, Op. 32^[1] is a seven-movement, orchestral suite by the British composer: Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Its first complete public performance was by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates on 15 November 1920. (An earlier private performance had been given on 29 September 1918 in the Queen's Hall in London, conducted by Adrian Boult^[2]; and at least two incomplete public performances were given after that - one in Birmingham on 10 October 1918, conducted by Appleby Matthews, and one later in 1918, in London).

[edit] Background

The concept of the work is astrological^[3] rather than astronomical (which is why Earth is not included). The idea was suggested to Holst by Clifford Bax, who introduced him to astrology when the two were amongst a small group of English artists holidaying in Majorca in the spring of 1913; Holst became quite a devotee of the subject, and liked to cast his friends horoscopes for fun.^[3][4] Each movement is intended to convey ideas and emotions associated with the influence of the planets on the psyche, not the Roman deities. Holst also used Alan Leo's^[3] book What is a Horoscope? as a springboard for his own ideas, as well as for the subtitles (i.e., "The Bringer of...") for the movements.

The Queen's Hall, where The Planets premiered in 1918

The Planets as a work in progress was originally scored for a piano duet, except for "Neptune", which was scored for a single organ, as Holst believed that the sound of the piano was too harsh for a world as mysterious and distant as Neptune. Holst then scored the suite for a large orchestra, and it was in this incarnation that it became enormously popular. Holst's use of orchestration was very imaginative and colourful, showing the influence of Arnold Schoenberg^[3] and other continental composers of the day rather than his English predecessors. The influence of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring is especially notable. These new (at least for British audiences) sonorities helped make the suite an instant success. Although The Planets remains Holst's most popular work, the composer himself did not count it among his best creations and later in life complained that its popularity had completely surpassed his other works. He was, however, partial to his own favourite movement, "Saturn".

During the last weeks of World War I, the private orchestral premiere of The Planets suite was held at rather short notice on 29 September 1918, in the Queen's Hall. It was hastily rehearsed; the musicians first saw the complicated music only two hours before the performance. Despite this auspicious venue, it was a comparably intimate affair, attended by around 250 invited associates, with a chamber orchestra and choir conducted by Adrian Boult at the request of his friends—Holst, and financial backer and fellow composer Balfour Gardiner.^[1][4] An ecstatically-received public concert was given a few weeks later while Holst was overseas, but out of the seven movements, only five were played.^[4] The first complete public performance of the suite was by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates on 15 November 1920.

He did, however, conduct two recorded performances of the suite in the 1920s (an acoustical recording, made piecemeal in sessions between 1922 and 1924, and a replacement utilising the then-new electrical recording process in 1926),

Holst conducted the London Symphony Orchestra himself, in two recorded performances of The Planets: the first was an acoustical recording made in sessions between 1922 and 1924 (now available on Pavilion Records' Pearl label); the second was made in 1926, and utilised the then-new electrical recording process (in 2003, this was released on compact disc by IMP and later on Naxos outside the US).^[5] Because of the time constraints of the 78rpm format, the tempi are often much faster than is usually the case today.

[edit] Instrumentation

The elaborate orchestration of The Planets produces unusual, complex sounds by using some abnormal instruments^[6] in the large orchestra (similar to Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6 of 1906), such as a bass oboe, two timpani players, celesta, xylophone, tubular bells, and organ. Holst had been influenced by Igor Stravinsky,^[7] who used four oboes and four bassoons in his The Rite of Spring (1912–13), and by Schoenberg's 1909 composition Five Pieces for Orchestra.^[7]

• Woodwind: 4 Flutes (3rd doubling 1st Piccolo; 4th doubling 2nd Piccolo and a "Bass Flute in G", actually an Alto flute), 3 Oboes (3rd doubling Bass Oboe), an English Horn, 3 Clarinets in B-flat, a Bass clarinet in B-flat, 3 Bassoons and a Contrabassoon

• Brass: 6 Horns in F, 4 Trumpets in C, 3 Trombones, a Euphonium in B-flat and a Tuba

• Keyboards: a Celesta, and an Organ

• Percussion: 6 Timpani (2 players, 3 drums each except in "Uranus" having 4 drums for 1st and 2 drums for 2nd), a Bass Drum, a Snare Drum, Cymbals, a Triangle, a Tam-Tam, a Tambourine, a Glockenspiel, a Xylophone, and Tubular Bells

• Strings: 2 Harps, Violins One and Two, Violas, Violoncellos, and Double basses

• Voices: ("Neptune" only), 2 three-part women's choruses (SSA) located in an adjoining room which is to be screened from the audience

[edit] Structure

Mars, the Bringer of War A concert band arrangement of Mars, from The Planets, performed by the U.S. Air Force Band Venus, the Bringer of Peace A concert band arrangement of Venus, from The Planets, performed by the U.S. Air Force Band Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Jupiter, from The Planets, performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Courtesy of Musopen Uranus, the Magician A concert band arrangement of Uranus, from The Planets, performed by the U.S. Air Force Band

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The suite has seven movements, each of them named after a planet and its corresponding Roman deity (see also Planets in astrology):

1. Mars, the Bringer of War
2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace
3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger
4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
6. Uranus, the Magician
7. Neptune, the Mystic

The order of the movements corresponds to increasing distance of their eponymous planets from the Earth. Some commentators have suggested that this is intentional, with the anomaly of Mars preceding Venus being a device to make the first four movements match the form of a symphony^{[citation needed]}. One alternative explanation may be the ruling of astrological signs of the zodiac by the planets. If the zodiac signs are listed along with their ruling planets in the traditional order starting with Aries, ignoring duplication, Pluto (then undiscovered), and the luminaries (the Sun and the Moon), then the order of the movements matches. Another possibility, this time from an astronomical perspective, is that the first three movements, representing the inner terrestrial planets, are ordered according to their decreasing distance from the Sun. The remaining movements, representing the gas giants that lie beyond the asteroid belt, are ordered by increasing distance from the Sun. Critic David Hurwitz offers an alternative explanation for the piece's structure: that "Jupiter" is the centrepoint of the suite and that the movements on either side are in mirror images. Thus "Mars" involves motion and "Neptune" is static; "Venus" is sublime while "Uranus" is vulgar, and "Mercury" is light and scherzando while "Saturn" is heavy and plodding. This hypothesis is lent credence by the fact that the two outer movements, "Mars" and "Neptune", are both written in rather unusual quintuple meter.

"Neptune" was the first orchestral piece of music to have a fade-out ending.^{[citation needed]} Holst stipulates that the women's choruses are "to be placed in an adjoining room, the door of which is to be left open until the last bar of the piece, when it is to be slowly and silently closed", and that the final bar (scored for choruses alone) is "to be repeated until the sound is lost in the distance".^[8] Although commonplace today, the effect bewitched audiences in the era before widespread recorded sound—after the initial 1918 run-through, Holst's daughter Imogen (in addition to watching the charwomen dancing in the aisles during "Jupiter") remarked that the ending was "unforgettable, with its hidden chorus of women's voices growing fainter and fainter... until the imagination knew no difference between sound and silence".^[4] A typical performance of all of the seven movements lasts for around 50 minutes.

[edit] Pluto

Pluto was discovered in 1930, four years before Holst's death, and was hailed by astronomers as a new planet. Holst expressed no interest in writing a movement for it—he had become disillusioned by the popularity of the suite, believing that it took too much attention away from his other works.^{[citation needed]}

Several other composers have written their own Pluto movements^{[citation needed]}, the first apparently being Clive Strutt, who produced his for the Holst centenary in 1974, though it has never been performed. In 2000, the Hallé Orchestra commissioned the composer Colin Matthews, an authority on Holst, to write a new eighth movement, which Matthews entitled Pluto, the Renewer. Dedicated to the late Imogen Holst, Gustav Holst's daughter, it was first performed in Manchester on 11 May 2000, with Kent Nagano conducting the Hallé Orchestra. Matthews changed the ending of Neptune slightly so that the movement would lead directly into Pluto.

In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union for the first time defined the term "planet", which resulted in a change in Pluto's status, from a planet to a dwarf planet. Thus, Holst's original work is once again a complete representation of all the extraterrestrial planets in the Solar System.

[edit] Recordings

See The Planets discography.

[edit] Adaptations of The Planets

[edit] Non-orchestral arrangements

• Piano Duet (four hands) - An engraved copy of Holst's own piano duet arrangement was found by John York.^[9]

• Two pianos (duo) - Holst also created a version for two pianos. When he was composing the duo, he had two of his friends play the four-hands version to aid in the transcription.^[10] The two-piano arrangement was published in 1949. Holst's original manuscripts for it are now in the holdings of the Royal College of Music (Mars, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune), Royal Academy of Music (Mercury) and British Library (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus).^[11]

• Organ - Peter Sykes transcribed the Planets for an organ.^[12]

• Brass ensemble - The Empire Brass recorded a shortened version of Jupiter.

• Brass band - Stephen Roberts, associate conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra, transcribed the entire suite for brass band. This version has been recorded by the Black Dyke Band.^[13]

• Symphonic Band Transcriptions - A Symphonic Band Transcription was written by George Smith (enrolled in Students course of the RMSM) probably with the collaboration of Holst himself of Venus, Mars and Jupiter exist and the latter two are currently published by Boosey and Hawkes. A transcription for symphonic wind ensemble of the complete seven-movement suite was written by Merlin Patterson in 1998.

• Drum and bugle corps - Since 1959, many drum corps have performed selections from The Planets.^[14] The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps performed The Planets twice with programs featuring selections from the work; first in 1985 (Mars, Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter) and again in 1995 (Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter) winning the DCI World Championship Title.

• Marching band - The movements: Mars, Venus and Jupiter, have all been arranged for marching band by Jay Bocook.^[15] Paul Murtha also arranged the chorale section of Jupiter for marching band.^[16]

• Percussion ensemble - James Ancona arranged Mercury for a percussion ensemble. It consisted of 2 glockenspiels, 2 xylophones, 2 vibraphones, 2 marimbas, 5 timpani, a small suspended cymbal, and 2 triangles.^[17]

• Synthesizers - The Japanese keyboardist and composer Isao Tomita recorded the full score using only synthesizers.

• Hand Bell Choirs - Jupiter, named as Oh God Beyond All Praising, was arranged for hand bell choirs by Kiyo Watanabe.

• Mellotron - Mars was recorded entirely on the Mellotron by Mike Dickson as part of his mellotronworks album.

[edit] Hymns

Holst himself adapted the melody of the central section of Jupiter in 1921 to fit the metre of a poem beginning "I vow to thee, my country". As a hymn tune it has the title Thaxted, after the town in Essex where Holst lived for many years, and it has also been used for other hymns, such as "O God beyond all praising".^[18]

"I Vow to Thee, My Country" was written between 1908 and 1918 by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice and became known as a response to the human cost of World War I. The hymn was first performed in 1925 and quickly became a patriotic anthem. Although Holst had no such patriotic intentions when he originally composed the music, these adaptations have encouraged others to draw upon the score in similar ways throughout the 20th Century.

[edit] Rugby Union

Part of Jupiter was selected in 1991 as the theme of the Rugby Union World Cup under the title "World in Union".

[edit] References

• "Symphony hits new heights with 'Planets'" (review), Peter Bergquist (professor emeritus at University of Oregon School of Music), Register Guard, 2005-10-21, MusiqueNouvelle.com webpage: MNouvelle-Planets.

• "HOLST Suite: The Planets" (history), Len Mullenger, Olton Recorded Music Society, January 2000, webpage: MusicWebUK-Holst.
• Astrology and Modernism in "The Planets", Raymond Head, Tempo (Boosey & Hawkes, London, now Cambridge University Press) No 187 December 1993.

[edit] External links

• Links to public domain scores of the Planets:
  • The Planets: Suite for Large Orchestra (Score in the Public Domain)
  • The Planets: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
  • Thaxted sheet music (PDF)
• Online Recordings:
  • The Planets Suite Op. 32 Live recording by Peabody Concert Orchestra (2002)
  • Free MIDI recordings of "The Planets" (containing some errors, however)
• IMDB entry for the 1983 Ken Russell documentary "The Planets"

[edit] Audio clips

• Jupiter performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Alexander Gibson in the Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow in July 1979
• Jupiter arranged by Stephen Roberts and performed by the Black Dyke Band