SONG OF THE DAY

“The Planets: Op. 43: IV Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity (Main Theme: I Vow To Thee, My Country)” conducted by the composer himself, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Recorded 22nd June, 1926. Composed by Gustav Holst between 1914 and 1916.

WHERE I HEARD IT

First, it was recommended as processional music in the 2007 or 2006 New York Magazine’s Wedding Edition. This, of course piqued my interest because by then I was already two years into planning my wedding, which, alas, would not work its way onto the schedule until 2010.

Then, I recently heard it in the 2009 film Knowing and recognized it. Of course, when I read in the credits what song it was I was not surprised to find out it was this song I had read about so long ago in a magazine. I knew this song would sneak up on me one day and pique my interest again.

As you’ll see in the interesting facts, this song is often used in soundtracks, so you probably already know it yourself even if you don’t THINK you know it!

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916.

– Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst. With the exception of Earth, which is not observed in astrological practice, all the planets are represented.

– The seven movements are as follows: “I: Mars, the Bringer of War”, “II: Venus, the Bringer of Peace”, “III: Mercury, the Winged Messenger”, “IV: Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity”, “V: Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age”, “VI: Uranus, the Magician”, and “VII: Neptune, the Mystic”.

– Critic David Hurwitz offers an explanation for the piece’s structure: that “Jupiter” is the centrepoint of the suite and that the movements on either side are in mirror images. Thus “Mars” involves motion and “Neptune” is static; “Venus” is sublime while “Uranus” is vulgar, and “Mercury” is light and scherzando while “Saturn” is heavy and plodding. This hypothesis is lent credence by the fact that the two outer movements, “Mars” and “Neptune”, are both written in rather unusual quintuple metre.

– From its premiere to the present day, the suite has been enduringly popular, influential, widely performed and the subject of numerous recordings. However, there were only four performances between September 1918 and October 1920, but they were all either private or incomplete. The first complete public performance was given in London on 15 November 1920, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates.

– The concept of the work is astrological rather than astronomical (which is why Earth is not included): each movement is intended to convey ideas and emotions associated with the influence of the planets on the psyche, not the Roman deities. The idea of the work was suggested to Holst by Clifford Bax, who introduced him to astrology when the two were part of 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 his friends’ horoscopes for fun. 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.

– The Planets as a work in progress was originally scored for a piano duet, except for “Neptune”, which was scored for a single organ, as Holst believed that the sound of the piano was too percussive for a world as mysterious and distant as Neptune.

– Holst then scored the suite for a large orchestra, and it was in this incarnation that it became enormously popular. Holst’s use of orchestration was very imaginative and colourful, showing the influence of Arnold Schoenberg and other continental composers of the day rather than his English predecessors. The influence of the late Russian romantics such as Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov is also notable, as it is in Igor Stravinsky’s great early ballets.

– Although The Planets remains Holst’s most popular work, the composer himself did not count it among his best creations and later in life complained that its popularity had completely surpassed his other works. He was, however, partial to “Saturn”.

– Holst conducted the LSO himself, in two recorded performances of The Planets: the first was an acoustic recording made in sessions between 1922 and 1924 (now available on Pavilion Records’ Pearl label); the second was made in 1926, and utilized the then-new electrical recording process (in 2003, this was released on compact disc by IMP and later on Naxos outside the United States). Because of the time constraints of the 78rpm format, the tempi are often much faster than is usually the case today.

– Only “Neptune” includes a vocal section, 2 three-part women’s choruses (SSA) located in an adjoining room which is to be screened from the audience. Holst stipulates that the women’s choruses are “to be placed in an adjoining room, the door of which is to be left open until the last bar of the piece, when it is to be slowly and silently closed”, and that the final bar (scored for choruses alone) is “to be repeated until the sound is lost in the distance”. Although commonplace today, the effect bewitched audiences in the era before widespread recorded sound—after the initial 1918 run-through, Holst’s daughter Imogen (in addition to watching the charwomen dancing in the aisles during “Jupiter”) remarked that the ending was “unforgettable, with its hidden chorus of women’s voices growing fainter and fainter… until the imagination knew no difference between sound and silence”.

– A typical performance of all seven movements lasts for about 50 minutes.

– “Neptune” was the first piece of orchestral music to have a fade-out ending (although Joseph Haydn had achieved a similar effect by different means in the finale of his “Farewell Symphony”).

– Pluto was discovered in 1930, four years before Holst’s death, and was hailed by astronomers as the ninth planet. Holst, however, expressed no interest in writing a movement for the new planet. He had become disillusioned by the popularity of the suite, believing that it took too much attention away from his other works.

– In 2000, the Hallé Orchestra commissioned the English composer Colin Matthews, an authority on Holst, to write a new eighth movement, which he called “Pluto, the Renewer”. Dedicated to the late Imogen Holst, Gustav Holst’s daughter, it was first performed in Manchester on 11 May 2000, with Kent Nagano conducting the Hallé Orchestra. Matthews also changed the ending of “Neptune” slightly so that movement would lead directly into “Pluto”.
Six years later, in August 2006, the International Astronomical Union promulgated for the very first time a definition of the term “planet”, which resulted in Pluto’s status being demoted from planet to dwarf planet. Consequently, Holst’s original work is once again a complete representation of all of the extraterrestrial planets in the Solar System.

– Non-orchestral arrangements:

• Organ – Morgan Fisher used the main theme from “Jupiter” for the intro of the song “Nova Solis” in 1972.
• Drum and bugle corps – Several drum and bugle corps have performed The Planets, most notably in 1995 when The Cavaliers won the Drum Corps International world championship.
• Piano duet (four hands) – An engraved copy of Holst’s own piano duet arrangement was found by John York.
• Two pianos (duo) – Holst also created a version for two pianos. When he was composing the duo, he had two of his friends play the four-hands version to aid in the transcription. The two-piano arrangement was published in 1949. Holst’s original manuscripts for it are now in the holdings of the Royal College of Music (Mars, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune), Royal Academy of Music (Mercury) and British Library (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus).
• Organ – Peter Sykes transcribed The Planets for organ.
• Moog – Isao Tomita adapted The Planets for a Moog and other synthesizers and electronic devices.
• Brass band – Stephen Roberts, associate conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra, transcribed the entire suite for brass band.
• Marching band – The movements: Mars, Venus and Jupiter, have all been arranged for marching band by Jay Bocook. Paul Murtha also arranged the chorale section of Jupiter for marching band.
• Percussion ensemble – James Ancona arranged Mercury for a percussion ensemble. It consisted of 2 glockenspiels, 2 xylophones, 2 vibraphones, 2 marimbas, 5 timpani, a small suspended cymbal, and 2 triangles.
• Rock bands – An arrangement of “Mars” by progressive-rock trio Emerson, Lake & Powell appeared on their eponymous album (1985) and was played in their 1985-86 live shows.
• King Crimson, Greg Lake’s first successful band performed a rock arrangement of “Mars” live in 1969. This arrangement was issued on their second LP, In the Wake of Poseidon, although for some reason it was renamed “The Devil’s Triangle” and Robert Fripp claimed authorship, with Holst receiving no composer credit.
• A third progressive-rock band, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, performed an arrangment of “Jupiter” with lyrics which they entitled “Joybringer”.
• Japanese singer Ayaka Hirahara released a pop version of “Jupiter” in December 2003. It went to #2 on the Oricon charts and sold nearly a million copies, making it the third-best selling single in the Japanese popular music market for 2004. It remained on the charts for over three years.[29]
• Holst himself adapted the melody of the central section of Jupiter in 1921 to fit the metre of a poem beginning “I vow to thee, my country”. As a hymn tune it has the title Thaxted, after the town in Essex where Holst lived for many years, and it has also been used for other hymns, such as “O God beyond all praising”. “I Vow to Thee, My Country” was written between 1908 and 1918 by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice and became known as a response to the human cost of World War I. The hymn was first performed in 1925 and quickly became a patriotic anthem.
• “World in Union”, the theme song of the Rugby World Cup since 1991, uses this same melody.
• In 2001, the LDS Hymn, “The Iron Rod” was adapted to the melody of the central section by Bob Galbraith to be sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the 175th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• In 2007, singer-songwriter Corrinne May wrote her own lyrics to the central section in the song “The Answer”, which appears on her fourth album, The Gift.

– The song was also featured in 2009’s New York, I Love You, 2004’s Mr. 3000, 1997’s Paradise Road, 1989’s How To Get Ahead In Advertising, and 1983’s The Right Stuff.

– Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodor von Holst, 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer.

– 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 Grieg, Wagner, Richard Strauss and fellow student Ralph Vaughan Williams, and later, through Vaughan Williams, the music of Ravel. The combined influence of Ravel, Hindu spiritualism and English folk tunes enabled Holst to free himself of the influence of Wagner and Strauss and to forge his own style. Holst’s music is well known for unconventional use of metre and haunting melodies.

– Holst composed almost 200 works, including operas, ballets, choral hymns and songs.

– An enthusiastic educator, Holst became music master at St Paul’s Girls’ School in 1905 and director of music at Morley College in 1907.

– 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.

LINKS

Here’s wikipedia’s list of all of the recordings of The Planets.

Here’s a link to Holst midi’s for the entire suite, including “Jupiter”.

Here are some free MP3 files of a recording of the suite at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University (scroll down to 2002-2003 Season).

IMDB of a 1983 made-for-TV documentary on the suite.

(1) and (2) links for free PDF scores of the orchestral arrangements (for anyone so inclined to start up an orchestra) (PUBLIC DOMAIN).

VIDEO OF THE DAY