Editing The Planets (section)

==Structure==
<!--Copyright issues prevented the addition of higher-fidelity recordings of the Saturn and Neptune movements, hence the excerpting of the original acoustic recording.-->
===1. Mars, the Bringer of War<span class="anchor" id="Mars"></span>===

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Mars is marked [[allegro (music)|allegro]] and is in a relentless {{music|time|5|4}} [[ostinato]] for most of its duration. It opens quietly, the first two bars played by percussion, harp and ''[[col legno]]'' strings.<ref>Holst (1921), pp. 1–2</ref> The music builds to a quadruple-forte, dissonant climax.<ref>Holst (1921), p. 29</ref> Although Mars is often thought to portray the horrors of mechanised warfare, it was completed before the First World War started. The composer [[Colin Matthews]] writes that for Holst, Mars would have been "an experiment in rhythm and clashing keys", and its violence in performance "may have surprised him as much as it galvanised its first audiences".<ref name=cm>Matthews, Colin (2011). Notes to Chandos CD CHSA5086 {{oclc| 887360432}}</ref> Short comments, "harmonic dissonances abound, often resulting from clashes between moving chords and static pedal-points", which he compares to a similar effect at the end of [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky's]] ''[[The Firebird]]'', and adds that although battle music had been written before, notably by [[Richard Strauss]] in ''[[Ein Heldenleben]]'', "it had never expressed such violence and sheer terror".<ref>Short, pp. 123–124</ref>

===2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace<span class="anchor" id="Venus"></span>===
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The second movement begins [[Glossary of music terminology#A|adagio]] in {{music|time|4|4}}.<ref>Holst (1921), p. 32</ref> According to Imogen Holst, Venus "has to try and bring the right answer to Mars".<ref name=h34/> The movement opens with a solo horn theme answered quietly by the flutes and oboes. A second theme is given to solo violin. The music proceeds tranquilly with oscillating chords from flutes and harps, with decoration from the celesta.<ref name=h34>Holst (1986), p. 34</ref> Between the opening adagio and the central [[Glossary of music terminology#L|largo]] there is a flowing [[Glossary of music terminology#A|andante]] section in {{music|time|3|4}} with a violin melody (solo then tutti) accompanied by gentle syncopation in the woodwind. The oboe solo in the central largo is one of the last romantic melodies Holst allowed himself before turning to a more austere manner in later works.<ref name=h34/> Leo called the planet "the most fortunate star under which to be born";<ref>Greene, p. 47</ref> Short calls Holst's Venus "one of the most sublime evocations of peace in music".<ref>Short, p. 126</ref>

===3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger<span class="anchor" id="Mercury"></span>===
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Mercury is in {{music|time|6|8}} and is marked [[Glossary of music terminology#V|vivace]] throughout.<ref>Holst (1921), pp. 44–72</ref> The composer [[R. O. Morris]] thought it the nearest of the movements to "the domain of programme music pure and simple ... it is essentially pictorial in idea. Mercury is a mere activity whose character is not defined".<ref>''Quoted'' in Greene, p. 52</ref> This movement, the last of the seven to be written, contains Holst's first experiments with [[bitonality]].<ref>Holst (1986), pp. 34–35</ref> He juxtaposes melodic fragments in [[B-flat major|B{{music|flat}} major]] and [[E major]], in a fast-moving [[scherzo]]. Solo violin, high-pitched harp, flute and glockenspiel are prominently featured.  It is the shortest of the seven movements, typically taking between {{frac|3|1|2}} and 4 minutes in performance.<ref name=notes>Notes to Cala CD CACD0526 {{oclc|46880671}}; Notes to Avid CD AMSC 582 {{oclc|45217594}}; and Notes to LPO CD LPO-0047 {{oclc| 871404142}}</ref>

===4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity<span class="anchor" id="Jupiter"></span>===
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In this movement Holst portrays Jupiter's supposedly characteristic "abundance of life and vitality" with music that is buoyant and exuberant.<ref name=s122>Short, p. 122</ref> Nobility and generosity are allegedly characteristics of those born under Jupiter, and in the slower middle section Holst provides a broad tune embodying those traits.<ref name=s122/> In the view of [[Imogen Holst]], it has been compromised by its later use as the melody for a solemn patriotic hymn, "[[I Vow to Thee, My Country]]";<ref name=odnb/>{{refn|group=n|name=hymn}} the musicologist [[Lewis Foreman]] comments that the composer did not think of it in those terms, as shown by his own recordings of the movement.<ref name=lf>Foreman, Lewis (2001). Notes to Hyperion CD 55350-B {{oclc|276175700}}</ref> The opening section of the movement is marked [[Glossary of music terminology#A|allegro]] [[Glossary of music terminology#G|giocoso]], in {{music|time|2|4}} time.<ref>Holst (1921), p. 78</ref> The second theme, at the same tempo, is in {{music|time|3|4}} time, as is the broad melody of the middle section, marked [[Glossary of music terminology#A|andante]] [[Glossary of music terminology#M|maestoso]], which Holst marks to be taken at half the speed of the opening section.<ref>Holst (1921), p. 91</ref> The opening section returns and after a reappearance of the maestoso tune – its expected final [[cadence]] unresolved, as in its first appearance – the movement ends with a [[Dynamics (music)#Dynamic markings|triple forte]] [[Eighth note|quaver]] chord for the full orchestra.<ref>Holst (1921), p. 112</ref>

===5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age<span class="anchor" id="Saturn"></span>===
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Saturn was Holst's favourite movement of the suite.<ref name=cm/> Matthews describes it as "a slow processional which rises to a frightening climax before fading away as if into the outer reaches of space".<ref name=cm/> The movement opens as a quiet adagio in {{music|time|4|4}} and the basic pace remains slow throughout, with short bursts of [[Glossary of music terminology#A|animato]] in the first part and a switch to [[Glossary of music terminology#A|andante]] in {{music|time|3|2}} in the later section.<ref>Holst (1921), pp. 113 and 122</ref> Apart from the timpani no percussion is used in this movement except for tubular bells at climactic points.<ref name=h113>Holst (1921), p. 113</ref> At the beginning, flutes, bassoons and harps play a theme suggesting a ticking clock.<ref name=h113/> A solemn melody is introduced by the trombones (Holst's own main instrument) and taken up by the full orchestra.<ref>Holst (1921), pp. 113–115</ref> A development of the ticking theme leads to a clangorous triple forte climax, after which the music dies away and ends quietly.<ref>Holst (1921), p. 131</ref>

===6. Uranus, the Magician<span class="anchor" id="Uranus"></span>===
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Matthews describes the character of the movement as that of "a clumsy dance, which gradually gets more and more out of hand (not unlike [[Paul Dukas|Dukas's]] ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas)|Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'') until, with what seems like a magic wand, all is abruptly swept away into the far distance".<ref name=cm/>{{refn|Short writes that despite reminiscences of the Pan motif in [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel's]] ''[[Daphnis et Chloé]]'' and of [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz's]] ''[[Symphonie fantastique]]'' and the "Infernal Dance" in Stravinsky's ''[[The Firebird]]'' the main influence on the movement is clearly ''The Sorcerer’s Apprentice'', which was first performed in London in 1899 and was "doubtless well known to Holst".<ref name=s130/>|group=n}} The movement, which begins with what Short calls "a tremendous four-note brass motif",<ref name=s130>Short, pp. 130–131</ref> is marked allegro in {{music|time|6|4}}. The music proceeds in "a series of merry pranks" with occasional interjections in {{music|time|9|4}}, building to a quadruple forte climax with a prominent organ [[Glossary of music terminology#G|glissando]],<ref>Holst (1921), p. 159</ref> after which the music suddenly drops to a pianissimo [[Glossary of music terminology#L|lento]] before alternating quick and slow sections bring the movement to its pianissimo conclusion.<ref>Holst (1921), pp. 160–161</ref>

===7. Neptune, the Mystic<span class="anchor" id="Neptune"></span>===
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The music of the last movement is quiet throughout, in a swaying, irregular [[metre (music)|metre]], opening with flutes joined by piccolo and oboes, with harps and celesta prominent later. Holst makes much use of [[Dissonance (music)|dissonance]] in this movement. Before the premiere his colleague [[Geoffrey Toye]] said that a bar where the brass play chords of [[E minor]] and [[G-sharp minor|G{{music|sharp}} minor]] together was "going to sound frightful". Holst agreed, and said it had made him shudder when he wrote it down but, "What are you to do when they come like that?"<ref>Boult (1979), p. 32</ref> As the movement develops, the orchestra is joined by an offstage female chorus singing a soft wordless line: this was unusual in orchestral works at the time, although [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]] had used the same device in his  ''[[Nocturnes (Debussy)|Nocturnes]]'' (1900).<ref>Short, p. 131</ref> The orchestra falls silent and the unaccompanied voices bring the work to a pianissimo conclusion in an uncertain tonality, as a door between the singers and the auditorium is gradually closed.{{refn|The choir sings alternating [[C minor]] and [[E major]] chords, and the musician [[David Owen Norris]] has commented that as the door shuts it is pure chance whether the last chord heard is C minor (looking back at the key of Mars) or E.<ref>Norris, David Owen. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p027rvhn "The Planets"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204165346/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p027rvhn |date=4 February 2024 }}, ''Building a Library'', BBC Radio 3 podcast, retrieved 9 July 2021. Event occurs at 46m 15s</ref> In a 2014 article William Weir suggests that the closing bars of Neptune are an early precursor of the electronic [[Fade (audio engineering)|fade-out]] that became ubiquitous in recordings of popular music in the 1950s to the 1980s.<ref>Weir William. [https://slate.com/culture/2014/09/the-fade-out-in-pop-music-why-dont-modern-pop-songs-end-by-slowly-reducing-in-volume.html "A Little Bit Softer Now, a Little Bit Softer Now …"], ''Slate'', 14 September 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2021</ref>|group=n}}