Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity | Behind the Score Ep. 51
Added 2024-02-16 04:02:59 +0000 UTCI think this is my personal favorite of all the movements from Holst's The Planets. It's buoyant and lively bits are derived from the noble folk hymn theme at the heart of the movement. The compositional construction (as well as the orchestration) are impeccable, and the result is one of the more cherished 8 minutes of orchestral music in the entire repertoire.
Come along for an hour of dissecting this famous movement's secrets!
Comments
If you've never watched the show Bluey, the highest rated episode, Sleepytime, uses music from Jupiter all throughout the episode, and now this piece cannot not reduce me to a bubbling mess of tears.
heytallman
2024-03-21 18:45:46 +0000 UTCHi Doug, that extension called "Thaxted" is probably named after the village of that name in Essex, Eastern England. It's centre is a really beautiful collection of buildings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaxted
Ralph Darvill
2024-03-18 11:33:11 +0000 UTCIt's been a great pleasure to have this music brought back to its original freshness and inventiveness by your orchestral observations, contextualisation and insight. It suffered in my musical experience through being the go-to classical work for my first music teacher at secondary/high school and the classical album most likely to be found in your local music store. As a result it became too familiar, lost its brilliance, so thank you, Doug, for removing the old varnish and restoring the original lustre and subtleties.
George Davis-Stewart
2024-02-21 09:08:29 +0000 UTCNice analysis! Glad you mentioned Schoenberg, as when Holst was working on the suite he was present at either the première or (more likely) the second performance of the Schoenberg Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16 - also the only Schoenberg score Holst is known to have owned. The influence of the third movement, Farben, on Saturn and, especially, Neptune is unmistakable!
Joe O'Farrell
2024-02-19 02:37:36 +0000 UTC…my brain is an enigma…don’t know why I said that. lol
R. Douglas Helvering
2024-02-18 18:19:11 +0000 UTCOne thing that fascinates me: I know this piece was very popular, particularly in Britain, in the '50s and '60s...and I feel as if most of the key prog-rockers you feature heavily in your presentations studied this piece very carefully! Whether or not they had the technical tools to analyze it in the way you do or not, a lot of Holst's approaches to harmony, structure, sound, rhythm...I hear a lot of that in classic prog. Just to take one example: in one of the 3/4 sections, there's a bit where, after mostly playing on 1 and 3, the low strings switch things up, playing on 2 or perhaps an offbeat for a bar. And THAT is something you can hear Chris Squire do quite a bit, when a Yes song is in 3/4, particularly if it's a slower 3/4.
Jeff Norman
2024-02-18 05:48:45 +0000 UTCI love it!
R. Douglas Helvering
2024-02-18 01:16:50 +0000 UTC'tho it does mean when I see an hour-long analysis, I'll be at the computer for about 3x that long :-)
David Marshall
2024-02-17 15:51:34 +0000 UTCWonderful BTS session, thanks Doug. I always loved this piece, so it's great to get your insights. Interesting that you think of this piece as the one that binds the suite together. That makes sense to me, although I always heard this piece as distinguished from the others by it's patriotic sensibility and nationalistic sound (in the Elgar and/or Vaughan Williams vein). Thinking about it now as the binding agent of the suite, it's the only one that competes with Mars for energetic power, but also sounds compatible with the later pieces. Your comment about knowing the work for a long time, but having renewed enthusiasm for it through the deep dive, is reflected in my experience of watching many of the Daily Doug's, and finding something new in pieces I have known for many years, bringing them back to life. That's a great gift - thanks Doug!
Adie
2024-02-17 15:40:29 +0000 UTCWow, thanks for what amounts to as a great bonus supplement to your orchestration course. I've been scribbling down ideas madly.
David Marshall
2024-02-17 15:33:31 +0000 UTCThanks Peter!
R. Douglas Helvering
2024-02-16 16:55:25 +0000 UTCThanks for another superb analysis of a personal orchestral favorite, Doug. 'Jupiter' is an important little work to me. I arranged "I Vow to Thee" ('Thaxted') for harp as part of my wedding music in the mid 80s, and classical WQXR in New York City used the brass declamation in the first theme for its "New York at Six" program of NY Times editorials (when they were owned by the Times) in the 70s and 80s. As Bill points out above, FZ based a section of 'Call Any Vegetable' ("Absolutely Free", 1966) on the third theme. And I quoted a section from a woodwind passage in one of my own works. So, the piece has been with me for many years in different forms, (not to mention Isao Tomita), and is dear to my heart. I thought I 'knew' the work, but your analysis gave a great 'under the hood' look at a masterful piece of writing and orchestration, one that I greatly appreciate, and will be putting on repeat. Thanks again ! Well Done !
Peter Tutak
2024-02-16 15:50:03 +0000 UTCBetween 1914 and 1970!!!???
Ray Sincere
2024-02-16 15:38:57 +0000 UTCBTW the middle theme is pronounced Thax-ted, named after the Essex village where Holst spent much of his life. Thanks again Doug!
Peter Swarbrick
2024-02-16 14:55:40 +0000 UTCAnother brilliant analysis of another brilliant piece of music, thank you Doug! As you say, we all know the piece but I've never heard anyone analyze it's intricacies like this. It is such an emotive powerful work, almost self-contradictory in its various parts and your explanation of Holst's orchestration brought it to another level whilst the music brought me to tears as it always has.
Peter Swarbrick
2024-02-16 14:53:54 +0000 UTC‘The Planets’ is one of my favorite classical pieces: great to hear your comments and explanations. Though the in-depth is too deep for me, it’s refreshing my appreciation for this beautiful piece. I have owned several performances on cd, and the one that stood out for me is the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, lead by Charles Dutoit. A great performance and a great recording. Higly recommended.
Frits van Voorst
2024-02-16 11:41:21 +0000 UTCThank you, Doug! It was fascinating, as always. It's been ages since I sat and listened to "The Planets" all the way through, and this series is really making me want to listen to it again. It's kind of astounding that someone can piece together so many unrelated and relatively brief themes so skillfully. Indeed, we listen to this, and the last thing we think is "Holy moley! What a disjointed hodgepodge of underdeveloped musical ideas!" Here's my question: The melody of the "third theme," taken by the horns and notated in your score as "V"--did that melody originate with Holst? I've heard it used in other places, most notably by Grieg in "Pier Gynt" in "In the Hall of the Mountain King", and since I'm ignorant of the chronology of these two, I can't answer that. I believe that Copland used it, too. (Frank Zappa also quotes it in the original version of "Call Any Vegetable", but that's another discussion.) So, what is the origin of the third theme? Also, I'm thinking of popping down to the Library to borrow a copy, so I can listen to it again. Is there a conductor/orchestra combination that you would recommend? Thank you again, Doug. You're the best!
Bill Brinkmoeller
2024-02-16 08:27:34 +0000 UTC
