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MUSC 216
May 2, 2018
Conceived in the early 20th century, The Planets, op. 32 by Gustav Holst is a
monumental work which remains a favourite in the standard orchestral repertoire to this
day. At the time of writing, no precedent existed for the creation of a multi-movement
work of such terrific scale. Each of the seven movements takes its name from astrology,
with the musical character of each loosely reflecting their namesake. These
movements, in the order they appear in the suite are: “Mars, the Bringer of War,”
“Venus, the Bringer of Peace,” “Mercury, the Winged Messenger,” “Jupiter, the Bringer
of Jollity,” “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age,” “Uranus, the Magician,” and “Neptune, the
Mystic.” “Mars” is violent and powerful, while “Uranus” is boisterous. “Saturn” is slow
and weighs heavy upon the audience, as does time itself. Contrarily, “Mercury” is agile
and light spirited. Holst’s brilliant use of orchestration serves to stir potent mental
images within the mind of the listener, painting rich sonic colours upon his malleable
canvas: the minds of his audience. Colossal in both length and orchestration, The
work, Holst uses various techniques to masterfully shape the orchestral texture and
these methods will be analysed through careful study of “Mercury, the Winged
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Messenger” and “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age,” but not before acknowledging the
The large scale and varied instrumentation of the orchestra scored for in The
Planets play a key role in Holst’s shaping of texture throughout the work. In earlier
quite colourful, but never before had he scored for an orchestra as vast as that which is
used in The Planets. (For a complete list of instrumentation, see Table 1 on page 9.)
This massive instrumentation allows Holst countless options in regards to the creation
of orchestral texture.
Holst often applies complete doubling across sections to create a thick, complex
texture (Greene, 25). An example of this occurs in “Mars, the Bringer of War” where
gliding parallel chords in the brass are doubled by joining woodwinds as the texture
grows denser (Holst, 8-9). This scoring fully utilizing the entire scope of the orchestra.
The battle of parallel chords versus the ruthless ostinato during this section serves to
reinforce the “disturbing character” (Greene, 19) of the first movement. In the sixth
movement, “Uranus, the Magician” Holst uses the large sections at his disposal in a
complex textures, he also passes themes from one section to another to create shifts in
timbre. In doing this Holst takes full advantage of his orchestra’s ability to reproduce the
(Greene, 25). One example of this technique occurs in the measures leading up to fig.
VI , where a choir of 6 horns states the first half of the theme before the soprano winds
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and english horn seamlessly take over to finish the second phrase (Holst, 149-151). The
result in this instance is a smooth transition from the pure colour of the horns to the
spanning multiple sections, the expanded orchestra of The Planets also allows him to
Throughout the work, the tenor tuba bass flute and bass oboe are all used as soloists.
The tenor tuba solos in “Mars” bring an anguished, urgent tone, while the bass flute and
bass oboe are used to paint an otherworldly texture in the slow movements. With such a
large orchestra at his disposal, Holst has no problem creating “orchestration which gives
Holst applies the concept of a tone-colour melody to the opening theme of the
movement. Here the quick, bitonal runs are passed between instruments in the
woodwind section as they rocket upwards from bottom to top and back again. This
motion is doubled in the strings (Holst, 46). It should be noted that when this theme
reappears later the instrumentation is always slightly different, but the textural attribute
remain the same. This texture is further used to communicate a deeper sense of
character in “Mercury.”
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According to Alan Leo, whose books Holst takes much of his astrological
knowledge from, Mercury “represents the silver thread of memory, upon which are
strung the beads which represent the personalities of its earth lives” (qtd. in Head, 19).
In this opening section the changing texture of the woodwinds over the homogenous
sound of the strings could represent Leo’s beads of personality, with the string section
application of pure, metallic timbres in the glockenspiel and celesta also represent the
silver thread in this movement (19). While it is clear to see that the orchestration of
“Mercury” is used to characterize this silver thread, the fast changing textures also
depict the inner workings of the mind. According to Richard Greene, the orchestration
throughout “Mercury” portrays “the nimbleness of the thought processes of a genius too
quick to follow” (53). Following the peace found during “Venus,” the mind is free to
“develop ideas, and dart hither and thither in space and time” (Head, 19). This
explanation by Head also explains why the suite’s first three movements do not appear
in the expected order of “Mercury,””Venus,” then ”Mars.” Holst further develops this
concept of the racing mind with the theme beginning at fig. III (Holst, 53).
Beginning with the first statement of the three-bar long motive in the solo violin,
Holst begins to pass the theme throughout various instruments for an astounding 70
represent the thinking process of the human mind. After its lengthy development
through many different textures, each one building upon the last, the theme reaches a
triumphant climax in the entire orchestra before disappearing. Head likens the treatment
of this melody to the development of an idea, remarking that it is “crystalized (sic) out of
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the air and then swiftly spirited away” (Head, 20). Greene also comments on this
experience” (54). This use of orchestration not only shows off Mercury’s relation to the
attribute)” (Greene, 53) is brought to the foreground. Holst manages to maintain the
sense of the tonic key throughout a series varied of different harmonic “implications”
(53). This sense of flexibility also extends outwards to the treatment of the tritone, which
Holst establishes a “juxtaposition of tritone-related keys” (Greene, 53), which, unlike the
use of the tritone in “Mars,” is handled in a way which suggests tonal function. The
treatment of the interval in “Mercury” removes the negative connotations found in the
first movement and gives “both the tritone and its sense of ambiguity a positive value”
(Greene, 54). By taking a closer look at the orchestration employed “Mercury, the
Winged Messenger,” one can begin to understand and appreciate the scope at which
In the fifth movement of The Planets, “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age,” Holst
“Saturn” begins with oscillating chords in flutes and harps (Holst, 113). This quiet,
gently-swaying texture sets a scene of desolation and loneliness. Holst doubles down
on this desolate mood by passing the first theme, which first appears in the basses,
through various sectional and solo textures. The dynamic dovetailing between
instruments is especially effective in this opening section. Each of these textures feels
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more distant than the last, from the yearning of the high cellos to the drifting hollowness
Eventually, Holst begins to transform and expand upon the movement’s first
theme. Much like the opening, Holst continues to use homogenous textures as the
theme develops. The second theme outlines a diminution of the first, and is first
presented in close voiced trombones (Holst, 115/116). When the eventual hand-off to
the trumpets occurs six measures later, the transition is smooth as Holst took maintains
the close-voiced chorale texture in the trumpets (Jackson, 84). The method in which
Holst applies to the orchestration to this theme allows him to maintain a full chordal
texture in a triad of pure, segregated colours. The use of homogenous textures persists
until just moments before Holst begins to build towards the climax of “Saturn.” The third
theme appears in a choir of flutes, with a chordal texture spread across three C flutes
and the bass flute. Six measure before fig. III, the rest of the woodwind section, along
with the harps, (Holst, 118) begin to thicken up the “cold and arid” (Greene, 58) texture
of the flutes. This sudden increase in the complexity of the texture sets the stage for the
climactic build as the trumpets take over the melody at fig. III (Holst, 119). From this
point onwards, Holst’s application of orchestration begins to bring narrative ties to the
first movement of the suite, “Mars, the Bringer of War,” into the foreground.
The opening section of “Saturn” abandons the heroic perfect intervals of the
previous three movements in favour of “anguished” (Head, 20) tritones. From the
opening chords, the fifth movement of The Planets serves as a return to “the realm of
pain” (20). The slower tempo and insistent oscillating chords present a “plodding
character” (Greene, 58). This is supported by the long-tone opening melody, the slow
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quarter-note bass line under the second theme, and the use of steady off-beat
accompaniment in the third theme (58). Chromatic relations between chords creates a
“wrenching effect” (Greene, 60) which brings forth memories of past tension, relating the
theme to the conflict in “Mars.” Holst forces this issue by setting the recapitulation of the
opening theme (of “Saturn”) “in such a way as to bring back an equally pressurized
moment in [“Mars”]” (59). However, whereas the passage referenced originally leads to
a cadence fraught with brutality in “Mars,” in “Saturn” the tension is finally resolved into
E major. Following this cadence, the remainder of “Saturn” is a serene soundscape, free
Holst completes his narrative, with the “recognition that the closing serenity is
reached only through the ordeal of [“Mars”]” (60). By the end of the movement, “the
strings make [the listener] aware that a new understanding has been reached” (Head,
20): even the oscillating major seconds which once represented desolation take on a
rich and warming character. (Greene, 60/61). After finally overcoming the unresolved
tensions of “Mars,” the character of “Saturn” is transformed, finally allowed to “move into
a new liberated atmosphere” (Head, 20). It is possible this new found freedom reflects
an increase in Holst’s own self-consciousness, as the notes which make up the opening
statement in “Uranus, the Magician,” which immediately follows the serene ending of
“Saturn,” spell out the musical letters of Holst's name in German (GuStAv H.): G, Eb, A,
B (20). With the inclusion of this inner narrative, “Saturn” displays Holst’s ability to
All things considered, Holst’s manipulation of orchestral texture in The Planets is utilized
as the core method for communicating metaphors of character in each movement. With
conjures vivid imagery in his listeners’ minds. Through the intensive study of just two of
the seven movements of The Planets these findings come to light, leaving much to be
explored in the other five movements. Further analysis of the serenity found in “Venus,”
or the otherworldliness of “Neptune” would most definitely prove to be beneficial for any
(Formatting based on similar table from page 25 of “Holst, The Planets” by Richard Greene)
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Bibliography
Greene, Richard. “Holst: The Planets.” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Head, Raymond. "Holst - Astrology and Modernism in 'The Planets'." Tempo, no. 187 (1993): 15-22.
Holst, Gustav. “The Planets, Op. 32.” London: Goodwin & Tabb, 1921.
Jackson, Howard Keith. “The low brass orchestration of Gustav Holst.” PhD diss., Arizona State
University, 1996.
Matthews, Colin. "Holst, Gustav(us Theodore von)." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Rushton, Julian. "Klangfarbenmelodie." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford: