Yo Cosmic Planet Tour of Holst's The Planets
The Backstory
The Planets, Op. 32
Yo yo yo, it's Holst, homies, and I'm about to spill the backstory of The Planets, straight up, word! Ayo, you're gonna hear how I squeezed a seven-movement monster into weekends and holidays 'cause teaching at St Paul's Girls' School ate my whole week, and that's worth every second, sheesh! And on this site my fellow composers and I coach ya to recognize our pieces when ya hear 'em, so jump into the Trainer and give it a whirl, c'mon!
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Spain, Stars And Zero Chill
Yo, bruh, picture me in March and April of 1913, kickin' back on a holiday in Spain with my homies H. Balfour Gardiner, Arnold Bax and Clifford Bax, sheesh! Somebody dropped astrology into the convo, and lowkey that one random chat lit a fuse in my skull, fr, fr! Boom, an idea for a giant orchestra thing came knockin', and I was hooked quicker than your cousin on cat videos at 3 a.m., no cap! My first title for it was "Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra", which, ayo, sounds like a label on a cardboard box from the bargain store, deadass!Horoscopes, Not Homework
Hold up, fam, this thing is not homework about space rocks, and it's not a mythology quiz either, nah nah nah! My starting point was straight-up astrology, the horoscope stuff where every planet gets its own personality, like a group chat with seven wild characters, legit! Two of my subtitles, "Mercury, the Winged Messenger" and "Neptune, the Mystic", I borrowed from the astrology books of Alan Leo, so mad props to that dude, homie! Without his books I'd still be starin' at a blank page, cooked, y'all, totally toast!Weekend Warrior With A Day Job
Real talk, I wrote the whole suite between 1914 and 1917, and I did it mostly on weekends and holidays, yo, 'cause my weekdays were jammed! I was teachin' at St Paul's Girls' School and Morley College, and that schedule chomped my free time like a hungry raccoon in a trash can, wild, right?! I wrote Mars first and Mercury dead last in early 1916, so the speedy messenger dude rolled in at the back of the line, which is hilarious, bro! Then I finished the orchestration in 1917, phew, big sigh, mission complete, and I was hella tired, cuz!Seven Episodes, No Commercials
Okay, so a "movement" is just one big chunk of a long piece, like one episode in a binge-worthy series, and I handed ya seven episodes, each with its own planet-flavored mood, bet! Mars, the Bringer of War stomps in first, Venus, the Bringer of Peace pulls everybody into a chill zone, and Mercury, the Winged Messenger is the shortest one at about 3½ to 4 minutes, blink and it's gone, sheesh! Then Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity throws a house party, Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age ticks like grandpa's clock and hits ya right in the feelings, and Uranus, the Magician trips through a clumsy dance that spirals outta control, ayo! Last up is Neptune, the Mystic, all quiet and spooky, and heads up, I ordered the episodes by what works best on a stage, not by how far the planets sit from the Sun, so nobody gets to nitpick, period!Bring The Whole Band, Then Some
This orchestra is hella massive, fam, like a whole stadium crowd squeezed onto one stage, no joke! I threw in an organ, a celesta, two harps and tubular bells, so it's a cathedral, a music box and a church tower all rolled into one burrito, deadass! Six timpani, those big boomin' kettle drums, need two players, 'cause one dude can't smack that much thunder by himself, bruh! Honestly, that pile of strings could out-bounce a trampoline park, and the whole sound slaps so hard it rattles your popcorn, highkey!Rejected, Heartbroken, Renamed
Heavy moment, y'all: the war was rollin' while I wrote this, and I got rejected for military service as unfit, which stung hard, man! I was director of music at St Paul's Girls' School back then, and my friends George Butterworth and Cecil Coles were killed in the war, and that gut punch still hurts, for real! In September 1918 I changed my name from "von Holst" to plain "Holst" by deed poll, 'cause the YMCA felt the surname sounded too German, kinda rough, right?! I was workin' for them as musical organiser in Salonica at the time, so I dropped that "von" like a scorchin' hot potato, bam!Premiere Night For Two Hundred Fifty Fancy Guests
Showtime was 29 September 1918 at the Queen's Hall in London with Adrian Boult on the podium, and the crowd was only about 250 invited guests, tiny but fancy, ayo! My buddy Balfour Gardiner paid for the whole shindig, a total MVP move, my guy, respect! People still argue about whether that night counts as the real premiere, since it was a private bash, and one account puts the public one in February 1919 with Boult doin' just five of the seven movements, so it depends on how ya count, whatever! The first complete public performance came on 15 November 1920 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Albert Coates, and the score hit the shelves in 1921 from Boosey & Hawkes, finally, woo!Critics Throw Popcorn
The reviews were split right down the middle, fam, but 28 of 37 publications surveyed gave it a big thumbs-up, so mostly love, sheesh! Still, critics at The Globe and The Sunday Times came in hostile, full roast mode, and I was like, yikes, calm down, y'all! Then the thing blew up and got hugely popular, and I was surprised and dismayed, no lie, like ordering one fry and gettin' a whole truckload dumped on my lap! I even opposed playing single movements apart from the whole suite, 'cause watchin' just the last five minutes of a movie makes zero sense, does it?!My Jupiter Tune Goes To Church
Plot twist, bro: in 1921 I adapted the central tune of Jupiter into the hymn tune "Thaxted", and it got used for "I Vow to Thee, My Country", crazy, huh?! Imogen Holst felt that churchy makeover compromised the movement, which is a major side-eye moment, yo! Meanwhile Saturn is reportedly my favourite movement, and I'd flex on that one all day, legit! It opens with a ticking-clock theme and builds to a thunderous climax with tubular bells, and apart from the timpani those bells are the only percussion, then everything fades out soft, kinda chilling, dude!Pluto Crashes The Party
This suite has influenced rock bands and film scores like Star Wars, and it's been recorded commercially at least 80 times, which is bonkers, fam! Now listen up, I did not write Pluto, 'cause Pluto was discovered in 1930, long after I finished the suite, so that little dude missed the boat, bruh! Colin Matthews wrote Pluto, the Renewer in 2000 on commission from the Hallé Orchestra, so respect to him for takin' on that heavy lift, homie! It premiered in Manchester on 11 May 2000 with Kent Nagano conducting, and honestly, who doesn't wanna see an eighth planet crash the show, ayo?!---
Yo yo yo, fam, we've hit the end of the ride, sheesh! Did ya enjoy learnin' about the backstory of The Planets, or did it knock your socks clean off, no cap? I wrote that whole suite on weekends and holidays while teachin' all week long, so every note was basically stolen time, deadass! And get this, bruh, folks have recorded it at least 80 times, which is more takes than a pizza guy rings the wrong doorbell, wild! But hold up, hold up, there's way more of The Planets to dig into, ya feel me? Every movement packs its own secrets, from Saturn's tickin' clock to Uranus throwin' a clumsy magic dance totally outta control, lowkey bonkers, fr! Word on the street says Saturn was my favorite of the bunch, but nobody can make me pick for real, ayo! So go smash those links below and keep explorin', fam, don't leave me hangin'! Hit 'em right now, 'cause the cosmos ain't gonna explore itself, I'm tellin' ya, peace out!
Best MomentsListen Guide 1: I. Mars, the Bringer of WarListen Guide 2: II. Venus, the Bringer of PeaceListen Guide 3: III. Mercury, the Winged MessengerListen Guide 4: IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of JollityListen Guide 5: V. Saturn, the Bringer of Old AgeListen Guide 6: VI. Uranus, the MagicianListen Guide 7: VII. Neptune, the MysticMore about HolstLearn to know it the second you hear it