| Welcome to BandMusic. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Gustav Holst; Music Pieces By Gustav Holst | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Dec 8 2004, 12:52 AM (234 Views) | |
| kwan | Dec 8 2004, 12:52 AM Post #1 |
Secretary
  ![]](http://209.85.48.14/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
He was a gifted artist, a gifted teacher; a man of flexible and capacious imagination, a wit, a poet, a mystic. He was on familiar terms with the cosmos. - Lawrence Gilman Gustav Holst (1874-1934) - an Englishman with a Swedish name - was somewhat hampered by the period into which he was born, a time when there was little English musical tradition from which to draw and little audience for new English music. As a young man he was prodigiously talented, his first opera Lansdown Castle performed when he was 19. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music, where he befriended Ralph Vaughan Williams. In the early years of his career, Holst made little headway in the professional world of music. For economic reasons he was forced to spend several summers at the seaside, playing trombone in one of England's ubiquitous military bands. He was never terribly fond of this work, but it did give him a thorough understanding of brass instruments and popular arrangement techniques. In February of 1923, Holst fell and struck his head while conducting; doctors recommended rest, but he ignored the suggestion and shortly thereafter suffered a nervous breakdown. His recovery was never complete, and despite the wild success of The Planets, Holst never won the recognition he sought. He spent most of his career teaching at the schools of Dulwich and St. Paul's, so many of his works were intended for student musicians. Holst's Brook Green Suite dates from the twilight of his life. Yet, unlike the Lyric Movement for Viola and Small Orchestra composed at the same time and performed by the Chamber Orchestra during the 2000-01 season with violist Catherine Hanson, the Brook Green Suite is a playful work written for his beloved students at St. Paul's School. The suite was written in 1933 and given an informal first performance in March of 1934 by the school orchestra. Holst died two months later. Like his popular St. Paul's Suite, the Brook Green Suite intertwines folk and dance tunes with splashes of modal harmony, all in a completely melodic and approachable style.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.chamberorchestraofthesprings.org/Holst_42.htm |
 |
 
|
| kwan | Dec 8 2004, 12:58 AM Post #2 |
|
Secretary
|
The Planets Suite Mars, the Bringer of War- Venus, the Bringer of Peace- Mercury, the Winged Messenger- Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity- Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age- Uranus, the Magician- Neptune, the Mystic This piece is published by Faber. During the 1910's, Holst was undoubtedly going through a period similar to a midlife crisis. His first large scale work, and opera called Sita failed to win a cash prize at a Ricordi composition competition and his other large works of the time, notably The Cloud Messenger and Beni Mora were premiered without great success. In March of 1913, Holst received an anonymous gift which enabled him to travel to Spain with Clifford Bax, the brother of the composer Arnold Bax (and later the librettist for Holst's opera The Wandering Scholar). Clifford Bax was an astrologer, and he and Holst became good friends, with Bax introducing him to the concepts of astrology. Perhaps due to this friendship, Holst began to rediscover his childhood intrigue with theosophy. He had a book in his library called, "The Art of Synthesis," by Alan Leo. Leo was himself an astrologer and Theosophist who published various books on astrology, however if you look at "The Art of Synthesis," each chapter is labeled with a heading, offering a precursor to how The Planets was constructed. Alan Leo divided his book into chapters based on each planet, and described the astrological characteristics of them. In fact, "Neptune, the Mystic," is given the same title in both the book and the suite! Holst may have been introduced to Leo by George Mead, a Sanskrit scholar and a fellow member, along with Holst, of the Royal Asiatic Society. Mead and Leo were friends. Holst called his piece "a series of mood pictures." In actuality, this helps lead into other influences for this work. Before Holst started to compose The Planets, both Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky made trips to England and caused quite a stir. Schoenberg came to England and conducted his Five Orchestral Pieces Op. 18. Holst must have gone to this concert and been impressed, for Holst labeled the preliminary sketches of The Planets "Seven Orchestral Pieces." Around the same time, Stravinsky came to England and conducted his Le sacre du printemps. Holst must have noticed this unconventional way to use the orchestra, because in the first movement, "Mars," the blatant dissonance and unconventional meter seems to be riddled with the influence of Stravinsky. Gustav Holst seemed to consider The Planets a progression of life. "Mars" perhaps serves as a rocky and tormenting beginning. In fact, some have called this movement the most devastaing piece of music ever written! "Venus" seems to provide an answer to "Mars," it's title as "the bringer of peace," helps aid that claim. "Mercury" can be thought of as the messenger between our world and the other worlds. Perhaps "Jupiter" represents the "prime" of life, even with the overplayed central melody, which was later arranged to the words of "I vow to thee, my country." "Saturn" can be viewed as indicative of Holst's later mature style, and indeed it is recorded that Holst preferred this movement to all others in the suite. Through "Saturn" it can be said that old age is not always peaceful and happy. The movement may display the ongoing struggle for life against the odd supernatural forces. This notion mat be somewhat outlandish, but the music seems to lend credence to this. "Saturn" is followed by "Uranus, the Magician," a quirky scherzo displaying a robust musical climax before the tranquility of the female choir in "Neptune" enchants the audience. The piece displays that Holst was in touch with his musical contemporaries. There are obvious ideas borrowed from Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Debussy (the quality of"Neptune" resembles earlier Debussy piano music.) Holst never wrote another piece like The Planets again. He hated its popularity. When people would ask for his autograph, he gave them a typed sheet of paper that stated that he didn't give out autographs. The public seemed to demand of him more music like The Planets, and his later music seemed to disappoint them. In fact, after writing the piece, he swore off his belief in astrology, though until the end of his life he cast his friends horoscopes. How ironic that the piece that made his name famous throughout the world brought him the least joy in the end. The Planets was first performed in a private concert in 1918 with Adrian Boult conducting as a gift from Henry Balfour Gardiner, who was also responsible for the premieres of Holst's Two Eastern Pictures and The Cloud Messenger. The first complete performance of the piece was under Albert Coates in Queen's Hall in 1920. http://www.gustavholst.info/compositions/l...php?piece_id=18 |
|
|
|
| kwan | Dec 8 2004, 01:00 AM Post #3 |
|
Secretary
|
First Suite in Eb Chaconne- Intermezzo- March This piece is published by Boosey and Hawkes. In 1909, Holst composed the Suite No. 1 in E-flat, a revolutionary piece in that it was written exclusively for wind band. At that time, concert wind band repertoire consisted of reductions of pieces originally scored for orchestras, essentially program music. Holst wanted to make the concert band a serious concert medium, and this piece is seen as the first step in that direction. Holst was well suited for this role as concert band composer; he played trombone in the Scottish Orchestra and the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and he was well acquainted with the working of wind instruments. It should also be noted that Holst played for seven years as a trombonist for the White Viennese Band. It was a seaside band which claimed to be foreign, and the members even spoke with phony accents, but in actuality two thirds of the group was from England. During this time period, audiences were more likely to go to a concert held by a foreign band than a British one. Talk about patriotism! Holst's style differs from other composers, who generally wrote for the concert band as they would for an orchestra without strings. The piece starts of with the "Chaconne," a melody of 16 notes that starts in the baritone makes its way throughout the entire band, and in the middle of the piece, the trombone plays the inversion of this progression. Buliding ever so slowly, the finale of this first movement is marked by a strong fortissimo in all instruments and a sustained chord by the upper winds as the lower brass drops out. The remaining two movements are actually based on a segment of this Chaconne theme. The "Intermezzo" is marked vivace and through the vibrant tempo we are shown the Holst's mastery in writing for woodwind instruments. The piece ends with a "March" in the form ABA, yet what makes the march interesting is the combination of the two melodies in the finale with a sophicated counterpoint. This technique of combining two folk song tunes is also employed the "Fantasia" of for strings and the Suite No.2 in F. The Suite No. 1 in E-flat was first performed in 1920. http://www.gustavholst.info/compositions/l....php?piece_id=4 |
|
|
|
| kwan | Dec 8 2004, 01:02 AM Post #4 |
|
Secretary
|
2nd Suite in F March- Song without words: I'll love my love- Song of the Blacksmith- Fantasia on the Dargason This piece is published by Boosey and Hawkes. It was 1911 when Holst decided to write another military band suite based on English folk songs. In fact, in this piece, he uses seven Hampshire songs, ranging from "Greensleeves" to "I'll Love My Love." He starts the Suite No.2 in F off with a march, where the baritone melody is the folk song, "Swansea Town." In the second movement, the main song is "I'll Love My Love." The third movement actually gives us a glimpse of a later Holst, with the use of open fourths and fifths as a sparse accompaniment to "The Song of the Blacksmith." But it is in the last movement where Holst shows how easy it had become for him to combine melodies seemlessly. He uses a catchy six eight tune that is woven throughout all the instruments, including a duet between the piccolo and tuba, and combines it with the familiar "Greensleeves." It is this wistful ending that is just right for the suite. In fact, he liked it so much that he used the finale as the conclusion to his St. Paul's Suite for strings. |
|
|
|
| « Previous Topic · Compositions Corner · Next Topic » |
6:09 PM Nov 25
