Planets, The (Schrijvers)

Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst (trans. Schrijvers)

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General Info

Year: 1916 / 2005
Duration: c. 55:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Molenaar Edition
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €562.34

Movements

1. Mars, The Bringer of War - 7:45
2. Venus, The Bringer of Peace - 8:35
3. Mercury, The Winged Messenger - 4:50
4. Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity 8:50
5. Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age - 9:40
6. Uranus, The Magician - 6:00
7. Neptune, The Mystic - 7:55

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo I-II
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II-III
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
Flugelhorn I-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV-V
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium I-II
Tuba
String Bass
Organ/Keyboard
Harp I-II
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III

(percussion detail desired)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Together with his friend and follow composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, Holst played a major role in reenergizing English concert music by injecting it with the spirit, and at times the letter, of the country's folk music. Both composers also created music in a more cosmopolitan style, such as this engaging, brilliantly scored suite for orchestra. The Planets is widely thought of as Holst's most popular composition, much to his chagrin.

When it came to outside interests, Holst usually concerned himself only with those that stimulated his creative imagination. During a tour of Spain in 1913, a fellow traveler, author Clifford Bax, introduced him to astrology. Soon afterwards, Holst wrote a friend, “...recently the character of each planet suggested lots to me, and I have been studying astrology fairly closely."

The large-scale orchestral suite that resulted from this interest depicts the astrological characters of seven planets in our solar system (he didn’t include Earth since it is astrologically inert, and Pluto had yet to be discovered). These characters differ from their mythological personalities, although Holst's portrait of Venus manages to conjure both her mythological beauty and her astrological peacefulness.

- Program note by Kathy Boster

The Planets, composed for orchestra in 1915, is a suite of seven tone poems, each describing symbolically a different planet. The work has insistent odd meters of five and seven beats, thick streams of parallel triads, and an opulent instrumentation. The entire suite was first performed for a private audience in 1918 and in public, without Venus and Neptune, in 1919.

- Program Note from Program Notes for Band

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Northeastern State University (Tahlequah, Okla.) Wind Ensemble (James Adams, conductor) – 17 November 2017

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Chaconne from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2016)
Fantasia on the "Dargason" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2013)
Intermezzo (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2017)
Jupiter (arr. Deterling) (Flex instrumentation) (1916/2020)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (Adaptable Band) (arr. Fisher) (1916/2020)
March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2010)
March from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2015)
March from Second "Suite in F Major" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1911/2018)
March from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2015)
Mars (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2009)
A Moorside March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Wright; ed. M. Brand) (1928/2021)
Songs from the "Second Suite" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2012)
Suite from "The Planets" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2018)

All Wind Music

Ave Maria (tr. Woodley) (1900)
Bach's Fugue à la Gigue (as arranger; ed. Brand). See: Fugue à la Gigue
Bach's Fugue à la Gigue (as arranger; ed. Mitchell) (1707/1928/2005)
Brook Green Suite (tr. Curnow) (1933/2006)
Capriccio (tr. Boyd) (1932/1967/1974)
Capriccio (arr. Paul Noble) (1932/1967/2019)
Chaconne from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2016)
Chorale from Jupiter (arr. James Curnow)
Christmas Day (arr. Daehn) (1910/2011)
Christmas Day (arr. Beringen) (1910/2010)
Country Song (arr. Klein) (1906)
Dance of the Spirits of Fire (trans. Harpham) (1918/1922/1971)
Dirge for Two Veterans
Fantasia on the "Dargason" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2013)
Fantasia on the "Dargason" (arr. Story) (1911/2000)
First Suite in E-flat (1909/1921)
First Suite in E-flat (ed. Matthews) (1909/1921/1984)
First Suite in E-flat (ed. Ito) (1909/2011)
First Suite in E-flat (arr. Longfield) (1909/2006)
First Suite in E-flat for Military Band (ed. Fennell) (1909/2006)
First Suite in E-flat Themes (arr. Sweeney). See: Themes from "First Suite in E-flat"
A Fugal Concerto (arr. Brand) (1923/1993?)
A Fugal Overture (arr. Noble) (1922/2014)
A Fugal Overture (trans. Ponto) (1922)
Fugue à la Gigue (as arranger; ed. Brand) (1707/1928/2008)
Fugue à la Gigue (as arranger; ed. Mitchell). See: Bach's Fugue à la Gigue
Gustav Holst Band Classics (arr. Edwards) (2020)
Hammersmith: Prelude and Scherzo (1930)
A Holst Hymn (arr. Smith) (1921/2022)
A Holst Suite (trans. Thompson) (2018)
Hymns from the Rig Veda (tr. Windram, ed. Mitchell) (1908/1917/2017)
I Vow to Thee, My Country (setting Vaughan Williams; ed. Grechesky) (1921/1988)
I Vow to Thee, My Country (arr. Knorr) (1921/2017)
Illumination (arr. Gene Milford)
In the Bleak Midwinter. See: Winter Suite
Intermezzo (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2017)
Japanese Suite (adapt. Boyd) (1915/1982/1999)
Jupiter (arr. Deterling) (Flex instrumentation) (1916/2020)
Jupiter from "The Planets" (arr. Pay and Smith) (1916/1924)
Jupiter from "The Planets" (arr. Branchfield) (1916/2014)
Jupiter (arr. Brown) (1916)
Jupiter (tr. Curnow) (1916/1990)
Jupiter (arr Hurt) from "The Planets" (arr. Hurt) (1916)
Jupiter (arr. Owens) (1916/2006)
Jupiter Hymn (arr. de Meij) (1916/1921/1990)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (Adaptable Band) (arr. Fisher) (1916/2020)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (tr. McAlister; ed. Reed) (1916/2003)
March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2010)
March from "First Suite for Military Band" (arr. Story) (2011)
March from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2015)
March from Second "Suite in F Major" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1911/2018)
Marching Song (1906/1930)
Marching Song (arr. Moss) (1906/2006)
Marching Song (ed. Reynish) (1906/1983)
March on Three Folk Tunes (ed. Binney) (c. 1913/2005)
Mars (arr. Bocook) (1916/1998)
Mars (arr. Owens) (1916/2009)
Mars from "The Planets" (tr. Pay and Smith) (1916/1924)
Mars, from "The Planets" (tr. Singleton) (1916/2001)
Mars (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2009)
Midwinter (arr. Phillips) (2012)
Moorside March (arr. Jacob) (1928/1960)
A Moorside March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Wright; ed. M. Brand) (1928/2021)
A Moorside Suite (arr. Wright)
Morris Dance Tunes (arr. Wagner) (1910/2010)
On This Day the Earth Shall Ring (arr. Smith) (2001)
The Perfect Fool (arr. Short) (1922/2005)
The Planets (tr. Inagaki) (1916)
The Planets (tr. Janssen) (1916/2017)
The Planets (tr. Patterson) (1916/1998)
The Planets (tr. Schrijvers) (1916/2005)
The Planets (tr. Vives) (1916/2007?)
The Planets (tr. Smith) (1916/1921)
Scherzo (tr. Patterson) (1933/2021)
Second Suite in F (ed. Fennell; score assembly Schissel) (1911/2006)
Second Suite in F (arr. Johnston) (1911/2011)
Second Suite in F (ed. Matthews) (1911)
Second Suite in F (ed. Neumann) (1911)
Second Suite in F (ed. Ito) (1911/1922/2012)
Second Suite in F (adapt. Longfield) (1911/2007)
Second Suite in f minor / F Major (ed. Hauswirth and Schmidt) (1911/2014)
A Somerset Rhapsody (tr. Clare Grundman) (1906/1927/1980)
The Song of the Blacksmith (arr. Loest) (1911/2011)
Songs from the "Second Suite" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2012)
Songs of the West (arr. James Curnow) (1907/1986)
St. Paul's Suite (arr. Sparke) (1912-1913/2017)
Suite from "The Planets" (arr. Custer) (1916/1991)
Suite from "The Planets" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2018)
Themes from "First Suite in E-flat" (arr. Sweeney) (1909/2006)
Three Folk Tunes (arr. Wagner) (c. 1913/2007)
Two Songs Without Words (arr. Erickson) (1906/1996)
Uranus (tr. Curnow) (1916/1991)
Winter Suite
- On This Day Earth Shall Ring (arr. Smith) (1924/2001)
- In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. Bullock) (1906/1996)
- In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. Giroux) (1906/2018)
- In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. Smith) (1906/1992)
- Old Brenton Carol (arr. Smith) (1910/2001)

Resources

Gibbs, Alan. "How did Holst conduct 'The Planets.'" Tempo, vol. 66, no. 261, July 2012, pp. 51-58.
Holst, G.; Schrijvers, G. (2005). The Planets [score]. Molenaar Edition: Wormerveer, Netherlands.
Perusal score
"The Planets by Gustav Holst." Wind Band Literature
The Planets. Wikipedia. Accessed 6 August 2023
Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 297.