Something for the weekend. Gustav Holst’s Jupiter, the bringer of jollity, my favorite part of The Planets. Some things become so popular that we tend to take them for granted. I am afraid that is what has happened to some degree with The Planets. It is a magnificent piece of music and places Holst in the top ten list of composers of all time in my estimation.
Jupiter and Jollity
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky,and Mahler are clearly above Holst.
That’s saying nothing about Shostakovich, Elgar, Wagner, Rossini, Verdi, Grieg, Sibelius, Rachmoninov and many others.
Personal taste Mr. DeFrancisis. Arguing the relative worth of musical compositions, especially when the music being compared is of a high order, is as fruitless as trying to determine which actor has given the best performance of Hamlet over the centuries.
Cows have taste.
I’d say there are objective criteria here– albeit, elusive ones.
Mars is better than Jupiter.
That’s why it is the Quatermass theme.
Actually Mr. DeFrancisis I once had the task of picking best cow in show at a county fair. There were criteria to use in judging, but once all but the three best cows in show had been eliminated I felt choosing the best one was a fairly subjective process on my part, since all three of the cows were prime specimens. The owner of the winning cow disagreed with me and thought the process by which I chose her cow was completely objective. The owners of the other two cows did think the process had been subjective and were quite ready to share with me their subjective opinions of the quality of the decision I had made.
I’m not sure I’ll “go there” on whether Holst is a ‘top ten’ composer, though without question I really enjoy The Planets, but just to keep the apple of discord rolling I’ll note that I read a while back that Holst actually got really tired of The Planets’ popularity, thinking it wasn’t his best work.
Whether he was right on this I can’t judge, because the only Holst music I have is The Planets. So from his point of view, I’m clearly part of the problem.
I am just contented that my old record player and my newer, yet apparently becoming more obsolete by the day, CD player, are willing to accept and play a variety of types of music, especially classical music, which has moved to near the top oof my favorites.
My favorite will always remain good old Rock and Roll from the 50s-early 60s and Buddy Holly will always be my most hallowed musician, although Mozart is right behind him. In my advancing years I have come to better appreciate a wider variety of musical styles.
Now I will have to listen to the various planet, pieces, to see if I have a preference. Most likely I will simply enjoy them, all, as they play.
Thanks for this post.
I love this piece of music, I failed to mention.
Thanks for the post.
Deciding which is better, Mars or Jupiter, is a rather apples to oranges comparison..
“Mine’s the SUN. I like it because it’s like the King of Planets!”
Ah…the Planets. Great music, played it in high school. Though I think Saturn and Mercury are underrated pieces.
Congrats, Don. What you lack in taste when it comes to presidents you make up for in music. 🙂