Gustav Holst

[micrologus]

From Wikipedia:

Gustav Theodore Holst (21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer and was a music teacher for nearly 20 years. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets. Having studied at the Royal College of Music in London, his early work was influenced by Ravel, Grieg, Richard Strauss, and fellow student Ralph Vaughan Williams, but most of his music is highly original, with influences from Hindu spiritualism and English folk tunes. Holst's music is well known for unconventional use of metre and haunting melodies.
Holst wrote almost 200 catalogued compositions, including operas, ballets, choral hymns, and songs.
Holst became music master at St Paul's Girls' School in 1905 and director of music at Morley College in 1907, continuing in both posts until retirement.
He was the brother of Hollywood actor Ernest Cossart and father of the composer and conductor Imogen Holst, who wrote a biography of him in 1938.
He was originally named Gustavus Theodor von Holst, but he dropped the "von" from his name in response to anti-German sentiment in Britain during World War I, making it official by deed poll in 1918.

The Planets Op. 32 is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the British composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. The Planets is the most-performed composition by an English composer. Its first complete public performance occurred during World War I on 10 October 1918 in Birmingham, with Appleby Matthews conducting. However, an earlier invitation-only premiere was held on 29 September 1918 in the Queen's Hall in London, conducted by Adrian Boult.
The elaborate score of The Planets produces unusual, complex sounds by using some out-of-the-ordinary instruments[3] 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, 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.

The concept of the work is astrological 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 friends' horoscopes for fun. 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 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.

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.
Numerous other composers have written their own Pluto movements. In 2000, the Hallé Orchestra commissioned the composer Colin Matthews, a Holst specialist, to write a new eighth movement, which Matthews entitled Pluto, the Renewer. Dedicated to 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.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I&feature=related"]YouTube - Gustav Holst - The Planets - Mars, the Bringer of War[/ame]

[Kuhlau]

This is the Holst disc to buy if you want to take the first steps beyond The Planets:




The Invocation for Cello and Orchestra is to die for, and Beni Mora is an exquisite example of musical inventiveness.

FK

[micrologus]

Originally Posted by Kuhlau

This is the Holst disc to buy if you want to take the first steps beyond The Planets:




The Invocation for Cello and Orchestra is to die for, and Beni Mora is an exquisite example of musical inventiveness.

FK

Thank you Kuhlau

[Astrovaan]

I know it's been a while since there was a post in this thread, but since Holst died in 1934, that must mean he entered into public domain status last year.

EDIT: I checked IMSLP, he's there.

[marquis66]

If you like Brass Band literature, you have to check out the Moorside Suite. It is incredible!

[Aran]

The UK label Lyrita championed British music and issued a few LPs that later turned up on about 4 CDs. My favourite was the one containing The Lure and Song of the Night.



As far as The Planets goes, the idea of a movement following the finality of Neptune never caught me. Holst was dealing with the mystical planets so I doubt anyone could quite divine how he might have treated Pluto. It hadn't taken on mystical significance in Holst's time. Perhaps that's why he decided not to "update" his Suite.

[Mambo]

Originally Posted by Aran

The UK label Lyrita championed British music and issued a few LPs that later turned up on about 4 CDs. My favourite was the one containing The Lure and Song of the Night.

Thanks, Aran, for reminding us of Holst - another composer i'll
revisit.
You mention the UK label Lyrita championing British music - i know they put some music of Havergal Brian into their catalog.
Familiar with him? - we have a special thread just for Havergal
on this forum, but has not been too active lately.

[Mambo]

just started listening to it - awesome 'large orchestra sound'
(like Havergal Brian)