Essay on Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Music derived from astrology is surprisingly rare. The ancient Greek philosophers, whatever their
intellectual attitudes towards astrology may have been, were certainly not ignorant of astrological
teachings and ideas. It was they, after all who put forward the idea of the Music of the Spheres , the
idea that these vast objects twirling around and whirling through space, must have hummed a tone
as they went along their courses, much as a ball spun on a string will whistle. They knew of seven
planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Not surprisingly, western music
evolved with seven tone scales. Music and astrology come together again in this suite devoted to the
seven planets, though Uranus ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
From 1895 to 1898, he studied composition at the Royal College of Music. He eventually became
an orchestral trombonist, after teaching composition at Stanford University for some time. In
1905, Holst was chosen as the Director of Music at the St. Paul s Girl s School in Hammersmith,
just west of London, which he did for almost of the rest of his life. One of Holst s contemporaries
and good friends was the noted composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. They often wrote letters,
exchanging critiques and ideas. Holst had a wife, Isobel, and a daughter, Imogen.
Holst s most famous work, The Planets, is a seven movement orchestral suite. Each movement
represents a different planet in our solar system. Since The Planets is a work based on astrology,
the Earth is ignored in the movements. It should also be noted that this piece was also written
before Pluto was discovered, thus it only contains seven movements.
The first movement, Mars, the Bringer of War emphasizes bass and low brass using an unusual 5
/4 rhythm. The greatest moment in war torn Mars comes shortly before the end as the orchestra
rises to a massive climax, supported by organ and gong. It is a moment of sheer terror,
transformed into a still darker terror, as the same two note motif is repeated in a lower register but
still highly dissonant. This is the first spiritual moment of the work, in my opinion: the wrath of
God at the warring, sinful nature of Man and the consequences of this, as I
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