Analysis Of Gustav Holst's The Planets Suite

English-born Gustav Holst was a late romantic period composer and pianist. Likely his most popular work was Op. 32 The Planets Suite, a seven-movement piece created for a full orchestra. Each movement was named after a particular planet, as well as a nod to Greek or Roman mythology. The first movement titled Mars, The Bringer of War, kicks off the suite with a fast and exciting melody. Written in quintuple meter, it catches the listener off guard and does a fine job of powerfully creating strong drama by using crescendo along with an ascending melody; the movement has a tempo in the andante range of about seventy-eight beats per minute. This particular movement has been the inspiration of many modern composers, most notably John Williams and his compositions for Star Wars. Although The Planets was written fifty-five years before man landed on the moon, it sounds noticeably space age and moderns. As it goes, this piece of music has had a lasting impression to current times and is quite straightforward musically.

The song starts off softly and spares no time moving into its crescendo. Rhythm is initially created by the string sections and percussion instruments simultaneously. The strings accomplish this by using a technique known as col legno, literally meaning “hit with the wood”. The musicians of string section repeatedly bounce the

wooden parts of their bows onto the strings of the instruments, versus using the hair of the bow. This creates a very unusual and distinct sound, almost being light and hollow; aided by the drums following the same pattern keeps this sounding rich. The brass and woodwinds come in with a melody following an ascending stepping pattern and repeat this pattern as well as build upon it throughout the movement.
Section B begins with completely new melodies from each section of the orchestra, although the section is still polyphonic in texture. Starting off in the major scale, it is much less dramatic at first and gives the listener some relief from the dramatic first section. This is quickly taken away, as the scale suddenly switches to minor and begins another crescendo; contrasting sharply with the beginning of this section and adding to the contrast of melodies. The strings stop using col legno and are bowed regularly, giving them a much more obvious presence. Building up in pitch towards the bridge, this section helps create more tension and drama in the overall piece.
A rather drawn out crescendo in the bridge marks the beginning of section A’. Beginning with a lone bassoon, and followed with the rest of the orchestra; a variation of the melody of the intro to the movement is given, slowly building the orchestra back up in volume and timbre. This section marks the climax, to be followed with decrescendo and eventually al niente.
The outro of this movement is marked by fortissimo, clearly showing it is the end of the piece. The entire orchestra begins playing broken pieces of the original melody and theme as loud as possible, showcasing the power of the whole combined orchestra and helping in a way to bring home a final point that Mars, the Bringer of War is very powerful.
This monumental piece by Gustav Holst created a very powerful opening for the other six movements.

Many modern composers borrow from the Planets Suite, such as seen in nearly every Star Wars movie or space related movie. If the first movement could be described with one word, it would be anxiety inducing. By using a quintuple meter and careful use of crescendo and contrast, a dark kind of drama is developed through the movement. The quintuple meter is so effective in creating new and exciting moods, especially in the twenty-first century, as many people seem to be trained to listen to music strictly in duple or quadruple

meter.