The Planets
Photograph:
Herbert Lambert ,National Portrait Gallery
London
Holst began work on an orchestral
suite first called 'Seven Pieces for
Large Orchestra'; this was to become
The Planets. Described by one
critic as 'the English Sacre du Printemps',
The Planets clearly displays
the influence of both Stravinsky and
Schoenberg. The work had been gestating
for a while, 'That work, whether it's
good or bad, grew in my mind slowly-like
a baby in a woman's womb…For two
years I had the intention of composing
a cycle, and during those years it seemed
of itself more and more definitely to
be taking form.' Each movement is a
'mood picture' and acts as a 'foil to
the other mood pictures'; Holst was
not bound by strict astrological empiricism
such as the order of the planets or
the effects of the sun and the moon.
When it was completed in 1916 the orchestration
was massive - quadruple woodwind, six
horns, and two timpanists. The characteristics
of each planet as Holst conceived them
can be found in the book 'What is a
Horoscope?' by Alan Leo which Holst
is known to have been reading at the
time.
Mars - independent,
confident, ambitious, enterprising,
skilful in action, 'headstrong and at
times too forceful'
Venus - awakens
the 'affectionate and emotional side
of her subjects, giving them a clear
appreciation of art and beauty.'
Mercury - the
'winged messenger of the Gods' gives
'adaptability, fertility, of resource,
and the ability to use the mind in various
ways.'
Jupiter - brings
'an abundance of life slow and steady
- those under its influence will be
more plodding and persevering than brilliant
and active.'
Uranus - 'will
incline its subjects towards the metaphysical
and occult side of life producing eccentric,
strange, and erratic reactions'.
Neptune - great
influence over psychic tendencies, helping
mediums and other sensitive people to
transcend mundane distractions and 'tune-in'
to vibrations from another world.
Mars, 'the most ferocious
piece of music in existence', formed
a new expression of battle, evoking
violence and sheer terror as had not
previously been heard. Holst insisted
that Mars should be performed at a quick
tempo, faster than a normal march, enhancing
the idea of mechanized warfare and inhuman
forces.
Venus shows the influence
of VW, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg. The
Sea Symphony (VW) shares a characteristic
pulsating chordal effect, found at the
end of this work, the 'Ronde des Princesses'
in The Firebird (Stravinsky)
is evident, and an adaptation of the
celesta passage from the second of Schoenberg's
Five Pieces for Orchestra can
be heard.
Jupiter was written
immediately following Venus, despite
the fact that it was to become the fourth
movement. The opening figurations are
reminiscent of those in Petrushka
and the central theme is similar to
that of the' Infernal Dance' in The
Firebird showing the importance
of Diaghilev's recent performances in
London. Emotionally, Elgar's Nimrod
is very close to the middle section
of Jupiter. A mood of relaxed self-satisfaction
pervades them both.
After completing his
a cappella Nunc Dimittis for
eight-part mixed chorus, Holst returned
to The Planets completing Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune before the end of
1915. The material for Saturn comes
largely from an earlier work - the female-voice
part-song Dirge and Hymeneal.
Holst changed the modality and rhythmic
placing of the original chords; offbeat
accentuation was used to disorientate
the listener while the ostinato alteration
of two unresolved chords portray the
inevitable passage of time. He considered
Saturn to be the best movement of The
Planets and, writing to Adrian Boult,
he stated 'In the opening some instruments
are quite "dead". Others have <>.
Make the latter as emotional as possible…The
4 flute tune (Tempo I) was soft enough
but try and get the timp, harps, and
basses also down to nothing. This part
must begin as if from another world
and gradually overwhelm this one.'
Uranus' opening four-note
brass motif is reminiscent of the arrival
of Pan in Ravel's Daphnis and Chloé,
though the main influence on this work
is clearly Dukas' The Sorcerer's
Apprentice which was first performed
in London in 1899 and would have been
well known by Holst. Following a series
of hearty capers, the spell is undone
by the 'magic' chord after a loud climax
and the magician disappears as the dynamics
fall from fff to ppp within
a few bars.
Neptune was, of course,
the farthest known planet in the Solar
System and Holst's aim in this piece
was to depict the wonder and mystery
of outer space. The absence of clear
thematic material and prominent shifting
tone-colours recall the fluid textures
of Farben from Schoenberg's Five
Pieces. The inclusion of a female
chorus was a natural choice for someone
who spent his days teaching in a girls'
school and, though unusual in symphonic
music, had a precedent in Debussy's
Sirènes and Ravel's Daphnis
et Chloé. The remoteness
of space I captured by the persistent
pp dynamics which eventually
fade into silence evoking the infinity
of the universe.
Mercury was finished
during the first few months of 1916.
Previously Holst had been working on
his Japanese Suite with alternating
3/4 and 6/8 rhythms, this may have been
partially responsible for the same alternation
of metre in Mercury. An impression of
the constant movement of this messenger
is achieved through the bitonal effect
of E major and Bb major triads and the
metrical alternation.
Although first written
for piano duet, Holst conceded that
it only worked on the piano if the scoring
for orchestra was taken into account,
and even then some of the sustained
orchestral effects were not at all suited
to the piano. Holst wrote to Whittaker
'The last one Neptune is so ridiculous
on the piano that I have arranged it
for organ duet. Even then it isn't quite
successful.'
See also The
Planets by Len Mullenger
The onset of
war
Just as he was finishing
Mars, the inevitable happened and Europe
was plunged into war. The immediate
effects on the arts were a complete
ban on Teutonic music and the replacing
of German musicians from the orchestras.
Holst, like VW, volunteered for military
service but was rejected on medical
grounds because of his short-sightedness,
neuritic right hand, and bad digestion.
At Thaxted the townsfolk became suspicious
of this 'Von Holst' and stories of his
activities as a German agent abounded.
After a police interrogation he was
cleared and eventually became friendly
with the villagers who often referred
to him as 'our Mr Von'. Prejudice was
running high, for the windows of shopkeepers
suspected to be of German origin or
sympathy were smashed, German grocers
were suspected of poisoning food, and
Barbers of cutting throats; it has been
said that even Dachshund dogs were kicked
in the streets.
During 1916 a growing
friendship with the local vicar in Thaxted,
Conrad Noel, resulted in the establishment
of Whitsun music festival in Thaxted
church. The previous year Holst had
invited a few pupils of Morley College
to come and sing at Thaxted, now pupils
from both Morley and St. Paul's were
invited to visit for the Whitsun weekend
of 10-12 June. A mixture of services,
concerts and garden parties ensured
that the event was a great success while
the music performed included Purcell,
Lassus, Vittoria, and Palestrina together
with the Bach mass in A. One morning
Holst went to the church only to discover
one of his Morley Pupils, Christine
Ratcliffe, in the shadows playing her
violin and softly improvising a wordless
song. This was to give him the idea
for the Four Songs for voice
and violin using texts selected from
Mary Segar's 'A Medieval Anthology'.
However, having written three songs
for Christine Ratcliffe's voice, Holst
was disappointed to discover that she
could not articulate the words whilst
playing the violin and so he abandoned
the idea of a performance by only one
person.
With the introduction
of conscription, Holst found that his
choirs were somewhat unbalanced, remarking
in October 1916 'Morley choir started
last month with 50 women and 2 men,
and 50 per cent of the men could not
sing!' Some Morley students sent work
from the front so that Holst might have
a look at it, Cecil Coles, for example,
sent the first movement of a suite for
orchestra but died soon after in no-mans
land. Sydney Bressey visited Holst whilst
on leave recovering from wounds received
at the front and showed him a setting
of Shelley's lines 'Music, when soft
voices die' written in the trenches.
Holst tried through the work with the
young composer, the Head Mistress, and
a student and was so impressed that
he agreed to include it in the forthcoming
Morley concert. Bressey was not to return,
however, from his second trip to France
and never heard the concert.
Wartime London
Having completed The
Planets Holst set about a new work
The Hymn of Jesus for which he
chose a text from The Apocryphal Acts
of St John by G. R. S. Mead. This was
postponed until the summer holidays
as the exciting Whitsun festival took
up much of his time during the Easter
holidays and term time was taken up
with teaching. When he settled down
to work at it, he selected two mixed
choirs, a semi-chorus of female voices,
and, in his own words, 'an orchestra
of rather more than a dozen, in other
words, a damned big thing.' The use
of plainsong in non-liturgical works
had a precedent in Berlioz's use of
the Dies Irae motif in his Symphony
Fantastique though it was almost
certainly during his work as co-editor
for the English Hymnal with VW that
he came across these melodies, for the
two hymns 'Vexilla Regis Prodeunt' and
'Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminis'
both appear in that book. The harmonic
interest in The Hymn of Jesus is
highly dissonant and functions as an
expression of intense religious experience.
Though vertically the harmony is often
very difficult to dissect, a linear
perspective shows that all dissonances
are carefully approached and quitted
logically. Typically the section 'Ye
who dance not, know not what ye are
knowing.' is set to a five beat rhythm
similar to that in To Agni from the
second group of Choral Hymns from
the Rig Veda.
Various concerts included
works by Holst as patriotism demanded
English composers and one of the foremost
conductors, Adrian Boult, was becoming
a close acquaintance and friend giving
several performances of Holst's works
in the Queen's Hall. Following the third
Whitsun festival at Thaxted and a host
of school concerts, Holst was given
a year's leave of absence to undertake
educational work for the YMCA. Before
setting off, Holst was strongly advised
to drop the 'Von' from his name, as
it would not go down well with allied
internees. He subsequently changed his
name by deed poll on 18 September 1918.
As a farewell gift, Henry Balfour Gardiner
gave a private professional performance
of The Planets in the Queen's
Hall with Boult conducting. The choir
of St. Paul's School was engaged for
the task and an invited audience (including
the majority of the school) attended.
There were many congratulations though
Holst shortly received
notification that he was to depart
for Salonica in thirty-six hours.
Working with
soldiers and children
Holst spent 1918-1919
in the Middle East (Salonica and Constantinople)
working for the YMCA's army education
scheme as a music organiser. During
this time he organised many concerts
of mostly English music both with and
for the troops and gained hundreds of
pupils who were eager to learn and escape
the dismal camps and their mundane duties.
He became frustrated at the way in which
troops would come and go from one week
to the next protesting that he could
not teach them much or build on skills
if he only had a week before the particular
soldier must move on - though he knew
that there was nothing he could do about
this.
Whilst away The Hymn
of Jesus won an award and was published
by Stainer and Bell Ltd. who immediately
put the vocal and full score parts into
production. More importantly perhaps,
The Planets received its first
public performance under Adrian Boult
in the Queen's Hall in London (Neptune
and Venus were omitted). As Holst was
not present, he only had the press reviews
to go on and commented 'It's all quite
nice, except that people seem to dislike
Saturn which is my favourite.' After
returning to Thaxted he began to write
a piece which was motivated by the waste
of life and the futility of war - Ode
to Death was written in memory of
the musicians and friends, particularly
the composer Cecil Coles, who had died
during the war. One again, he turned
to Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass'
using 'When lilacs last in the Dooryard
Bloom'd' for the words and used antique
parallel fifths to evoke quiet resignation
at the opening and at the end.
By the end of 1919 Holst
had almost finished writing the libretto
for his satirical opera The Perfect
Fool. Towards the end of the Christmas
term he had received two offers for
posts, the first at the Royal College
of Music where he was to teach theory
and composition, and the second at University
College, Reading where he would have
similar duties. By accepting these posts
Holst had to resign from James Allen's
Girls' School though he maintained his
posts at St. Paul's and at Morley College.
Now working as a professor of composition,
Holst expounded the benefits of communal
study: 'In the Middle Ages a great painter
had several pupils working in close
comradeship with him in his studio.
This is one of the best ways of fostering
the artistic impulse and the power of
artistic expression. And one of its
best features is the continual comradeship
with the master. This ensures education
in the deeper sense: the unfolding of
the pupil's mind - largely unconsciously.'
One of Holst's pupils who himself later
became a successful composer was Edmund
Rubbra. He recalled 'Holst's over-riding
characteristic as a teacher was his
deep identification with what a struggling
young composer was trying to say. Not
many teachers would carry his pupil's
problems away with him and worry over
them between lessons and to send a solution
on a postcard: or, when genuinely pleased
with something a pupil had written,
organise a performance and a small audience
for the next lesson. Nothing could give
a young composer more confidence in
himself
than his unselfconscious sharing
of the problems of music making between
master and pupil.'
Growing reputation
During 1920-1922 Holst's
fame was growing. The Times wrote that
Holst had 'achieved a position, rare
for an Englishman, of being a really
popular composer.' Many concerts of
his works were now being put on, some
of which he conducted, though his friends
- Adrian Boult, Balfour Gardiner, W.
G. Whittaker among other - were tireless
promoters of their colleagues music.
Two performances of The Hymn of Jesus
(19) took
place in early 1920 and with very favourable
reviews many more were to follow in
subsequent years. W. G. Whittaker arranged
the premier of Two Psalms (written
in 1912) for St. James's Football (20)
ground in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in front
of a crowd of twenty thousand people.
The first unabridged
performance of The Planets took
place on 15 November in the Queen's
Hall. Albert Coates conducted the London
Symphony Orchestra and a huge ovation
greeted Holst as he was summoned up
onto the stage. Reviews praised the
new work greatly and, now that the work's
place in concert repertoire had been
confirmed, conductors were soon vying
with each other to give performances
even though Holst had so far been unable
to have it published. Both the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra and the New York
Symphony Orchestra wanted to give the
American premiere. A compromise was
agreed - the work would be performed
simultaneously in Chicago and New York
(because of the time zones, New York
would just have the edge). Journalists
and gossip-columnists were soon pestering
Holst for interviews, photographs, and
information though he made it clear
that he detested such mercenary attention
and his replies became ever briefer
until he would withdraw into silence.
As well as continuing
his frequent conducting commitments,
Holst was increasingly in demand as
a lecturer covering such topics as 'The
Education of the Composer', 'The Music
of England', and 'The Music of Purcell'
at Edinburgh, London, and Reading. His
increasing fame afforded him greater
influence with music publishers and
Holst was able to have many of his earlier
works published. The downside for him
was, however, that he was obliged to
agree to the publication of things like
the maestoso theme from Jupiter
to the words of Sir Cecil Spring Rice's
patriotic poem 'The Two Fatherlands'
- 'I Vow to Thee, My Country'.
Albert Coates was performing
Holst's works world-wide now, giving
the Canadian premiere of The Planets
in 1922 and performing the ballet
music to The Perfect Fool with
the Royal Philharmonic at the Queen's
Hall. That same year Holst went to see
Thomas Hardy in Dorset, whose work he
had long admired. This encounter would
eventually lad to the composition of
Egdon Heath. But now a new prospect
beckoned, that of recording The Planets
for the Columbia Graphophone Company.
International renown
1922-1923 saw a host
of lecturing and conducting in Newport
and Newcastle, while concerts of The
Planets and St. Paul's Suite took place
in Birmingham and London respectively.
Being the tercentenary of both William
Byrd and Thomas Weelkes, Holst, known
to be especially interested in the Elizabethan
composers, was much in demand to speak
about their music giving lectures in
Glasgow, Manchester, Burnley, Leeds,
and York. However, on the 20 February
1923 in Reading, during a rehearsal
for a Byrd and Weelkes commemorative
concert, Holst fell from the rostrum
and struck the back of his head before
falling to the ground. This incident
was to have a debilitating effect on
his career. Though the concussion was
not serious, and he seemed to recover
that spring before setting off for Michigan,
on returning to England he found that
he suffered from headaches and insomnia.
After the event Holst left his Morley
and Reading posts much to the disappointment
of his students, though he did maintain
his position at St. Paul's.
Later that year Holst
left for Michigan where was to lecture
and conduct the music festival at Ann
Arbor. Whilst aboard the liner Aquitania
with Arthur Bliss he began to write
drafts for his Fugal Concerto ('the
world's shortest concerto'). On arrival
Holst completed the Fugal Concerto
and during the festival conducted
The Hymn of Jesus, Beni Mora,
A Dirge for Two Veterans, and
his A Fugal Concerto. While in
America, Holst missed the premiere performance
of his satirical opera The Perfect
Fool which took place on 14 May
1923. The reaction in England was mixed
for the opera itself is a parody on
'English Opera'. The action, if one
may speak of such, turns on the inability
or unwillingness of the Fool to take
any interest in wooing a Princess, despite
the prompting of his Mother and competition
from a Wizard, and in the final scene,
the Fool yawns and falls asleep out
of sheer apathy. After the performance,
heated discussion broke out as to the
meaning of the work: some said that
the Princess represented 'Opera' while
the Fool was 'The British Public', while
others felt that the Fool was 'Native
Art' while the Princess was 'The Public'.
There was some annoyance, however, at
Holst's flippant treatment of operatic
traditions though the work was praised
for its technical construction.
In the summer of 1923
Holst completed his Columbia recording
of The Planets. Conditions were
cramped and there were no editing facilities
so this project proved a strain for
all with the exposed horn solo being
recorded no less than thirteen times.
Holst spoke of his exhaustion after
the Christmas term 'I've had 5 shows
at the Queen's Hall, a lot of teaching
at the RCM and huge classes here, Dulwich
and Morley. Relief came in the form
of a gift from Claude Johnson, a director
of Rolls Royce Ltd. who offered to cover
the expenses of a festival of Holst's
music. Instead Holst accepted a monetary
gift of £1500 enabling him to concentrate
on composition for a substantial period
of time. Works of this period include
A Choral Symphony (in four movements)
set to the poems of John Keats - Invocation
to Pan and Song and Bacchanale, Ode
to a Grecian Urn, Hymn to Apollo, and
Old Bards of Passion and Mirth. Holst
was inspired by VW's Sea Symphony
set to poems by Walt Whitman, though
his new work did not have the same literary
cohesion as VW's being a selection a
poems chosen for their aesthetic value
alone. In late 1924 Holst was elected
to a Fellowship of the RCM; this was
the only academic award that he would
accept.
Pinnacle and decline
The years 1925-1933
were Holst's best years as a composer.
He gave up all teaching duties except
for a little at St. Paul's and
his fame was at its height. Performance
after performance up and down the country
of his works went on, so much so that
Holst was often unable to attend the
concerts due to doing another one or
feeling exhausted. His new work At
the Boar's Head, a setting of speeches
from Shakespeare's 'Henry IV', received
mixed reviews 'For the whole hour…nothing
happened that was of the slightest consequence'
though Holst was praised for his technical
ingenuity. Some other works of this
period include a setting of poems by
Robert Bridges entitled Assemble,
All Ye Maidens, Love on My Heart from
Heaven Fell. The premiere of his
Choral Symphony took place at
the Leeds Triennial Festival under the
baton of Albert Coates with Dorothy
Silk as the soprano soloist. Holst came
in for harsh criticism for his apparently
illogical juxtaposition of various poems
by Keats though, again, he was praised
for his technical ingenuity.
In spite of his immediate
success, Holst's absence from the media
and refusal to tailor his music to popular
demand meant that he was soon in decline
as a celebrity composer. Many of his
works were now being broadcast on the
BBC 'wireless' including Beni Mora,
A Choral Symphony, and A Fugal
Overture. He gave six weekly lectures
at Liverpool University on 'England
and her Music' and ten lectures in four
weeks at Glasgow University on orchestral
music. At the Three Choirs Festival
in Worcester his Short Festival Te
Deum was performed, after which
the BBC invited him to conduct a special
programme on his birthday - 21 September.
Although he began making notes for a
second Choral Symphony at this time,
this would never be completed.
The citizens of Cheltenham
decided to hold a special event in honour
of the town's most favourite son. After
refusing a portrait, a concert was arranged
which he would later describe as 'the
most overwhelming event of my life',
it consisted of A Somerset Rhapsody,
The Perfect Fool ballet music,
A Fugal Concerto, Two Songs
Without Words, and The Planets.
After returning from
Beverly on a walking holiday, a telegram
was waiting for Holst from the New York
Symphony Orchestra offering a commission
for an orchestral work. Immediately,
Holst knew that this was the chance
that he had been waiting for to write
an orchestral work based on Thomas Hardy's
Wessex. Sketches appear in his notebook
at the beginning of May 1927 for what
was to become Egdon Heath (21).
So on 4 August Holst set out on another
walking holiday to Dorchester with the
intention of visiting Thomas Hardy.
The two men walked together and spoke
of the beauty of the countryside and
the whole visit made an indelible impression
on Holst; 'It's been an unbelievable
day.'
As busy as ever, Holst
tried as often as possible to escape
London for the peace of Essex, and it
was here that he completed Egdon
Heath. After hearing a performance
of Bach's double violin concerto in
the Queen's Hall, Holst resolved to
write a double concerto himself, though
it would be two years before he started
work on this. Further lecture topics
in his busy schedule included 'England
her Music' and the music of Robert Lucas
Pearsall and Samuel Wesley ('Old Sam')
in Morley College and at the Royal Institute
at Albemarle Street. During December
that year Holst received a letter from
the BBC asking him if he would be interested
in writing a work for military band
(22). The
piece was to be in one movement lasting
between twelve and fifteen minutes and
in the form of a concert overture, fantasy,
or symphonic poem. Holst accepted though
warned that he would not be able to
start the piece for some time as he
wanted to arrange a Bach organ fugue
for band to familiarise himself with
the medium.
That Christmas Holst
travelled to Prague, Leipzig and Vienna
after his school commitments were over.
In Prague he visited Mozart's house
and met Janácek and Hába,
also attending several concerts at which
he saw Smetana's Two Widows and
The Tales of Hoffman.
Before Holst could begin
his Bach transcription a more urgent
commission arrived that of the National
Band Festival to write a competition
piece for the annual championships.
The resulting work he called A Moorside
Suite. The premiere of Egdon
Heath on 12 February was preceded
by the death of Thomas Hardy and the
dedication was altered accordingly from
simply to the man to 'Homage to Thomas
Hardy'. This work met with much criticism
for Holst's works were, in point of
fact, going out of fashion.
His latest work was
the play The Coming of Christ was
to be performed in Canterbury Cathedral
at Whitsun 1928. This would be the first
sacred drama to take place in an English
Cathedral since the Middle Ages and
inevitably there were protests from
Fundamentalists. The texture is, on
the whole, very sparse with the juxtaposition
of unison chanting and unaccompanied
choral passages working extremely well
in the resonant acoustic.
Holst was back in London
after a brief sightseeing tour of Paris
in time for the National Brass Band
Festival; the work was performed fifteen
times and Holst was impressed by the
technical skill and musicianship of
the performers, though he disliked the
sporadic indulgence in vibrato of some
of the performers. Holst, however, was
not getting enough composition done
as his schedule of teaching, lecturing,
and conducting allowed so little time.
He wrote that 'for some queer reason
I have not been able to write a note
since Easter …between now and next
Easter I'm going to have a long holiday
abroad.'
