Holst - The Planets

Holst - The Planets

British composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934) wrote his seven-movement orchestral suite The Planets between 1914 and 1916. Each movement was named after a planet, excluding planet Earth and those that hadn't yet been discovered. Today still, The Planets remains one of the most-performed British compositions, particularly the beautiful melody in the movement Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, which has become widely known. Holst adapted the melody when he set the poem "I Vow to Thee, My Country" to music. Moreover, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) included Holst's melody in his 1926 hymnal Thaxted. A more contemporary reference to Holst's music is found in composer John Williams' score for the film series Star Wars, in which the rhythmic motives from Mars, the Bringer of War are heard.