The Planets, Op. 32
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

THE STORY

As the head of music at St. Paul’s Girl’s School from 1905 to his death, Gustav Holst found time to compose on the weekends and on holiday, taking advantage of the school’s soundproof music room for long composition sessions. The Planets was the fruit of such weekend endeavors, begun in early 1914 and finished in 1916. With its novel orchestration, rhythmic vitality, and expressive dissonance, The Planets became an emblem of what modern English music could be.

While the date of composition and movement titles such as Mars, the Bringer of War and Venus, the Bringer of Peace may seem related to the approaching World War I, the true inspiration for The Planets lies in Holst’s hobby of astrology. An avid caster of horoscopes for friends, Holst sought to create a “series of mood pictures,” as he put it, which would capture “the astrological significance of the planets.” The subtitles correspond to the characterizations of each planet given by Alan Leo in his text on the horoscope. 

LISTEN FOR

• The col legno beginning to the first movement: literally meaning “with wood,” the instruction indicates for the string section to strike the strings with the wooden side of the bow, creating an eerie percussive effect
• The clashes between chords that move atop a sustained pitch, notably in the first movement—a technique that has inspired countless modern film composers, most notably John Williams
• The offstage female chorus in Neptune, the Mystic, which sings without words to create an otherworldly sonority

INSTRUMENTATION

Two piccolos, four flutes, alto flute, three oboes, bass oboe, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, six horns, four trumpets, three trombones, two tubas, two timpani, percussion, celesta, organ, two harps, strings

Notes on the music by Andrew Moenning