Lambeth Fantastical September 2025
Holst and The Planets
The 29th of September 1917 marked the first public performance of Gustav Holst's Planet Suite. Written during the first World War, when he was head of the music department at Lambeth's Morley College in Westminster Bridge road, many of the musicians he chose for the performance were his students from the college.
The performance took place at Queens Hall in Central London in front of a small audience of 250. The performance was only partial and it wasn't until a 1920 concert by the London Philharmonic Orchestra that the suite in its entirety was performed. Holst himself didn't conduct a full performance until 1923, again at Queen's Hall.
Born in Cheltnam in September 1874, Holst was Director of Music at Morley College from 1907 to 1924. A block of flats next door to the college now bears his name.
The Planet Suite depicts the planets in the solar system through a series of movements inspired by the astrological characteristics of their nature, thus, Mars the Bringer of War, Venus the Bringer of Peace, Uranus the Magician etc. When it was first performed it received a mixed response, some reviews were openly hostile, however over time it began to receive a more positive critical reception.
It was in the second half of the 20th Century, however, that its impact on popular culture began to truly take hold.
In 1953 the BBC's pioneering science fiction serialisation of Nigel Kneal's 'The Quatermass Experiment' used Mars, the Bringer of War as it theme.
In 1976 both Mars and Venus, featured in Nicholas Roeg's film version of the Walter Tevis scifi novel 'The Man Who Fell To Earth'. The plot centres on an alien (played by Brixton born, David Bowie), who crash lands on Earth. Mars is used to great dramatic effect when Bowie terrifyingly transforms into a catlike alien entity in front of his human girlfriend, played by Candy Clarke.
The movies 'The Right Stuff' and 'Contact' used Jupiter in their scores. Excerpts from The Planets have also featured in streaming series Mr Roboto, The Simpson and Wallace and Gromit.
In 2019 BBC Two broadcast 'Holst: The Planets with Professor Brian Cox'. The programme matched the movements in the planet suite with scientific discoveries about the solar system presented by Professor Cox.
Well known Hollywood film composers have cited Holst's works as a huge influence on their work. John Williams, has said he drew heavily on Mars, the Bringer of War for his March of the Imperial Storm Troopers sequence in Star Wars. Jerry Goldsmith took inspiration from Jupiter for his theme to Ridley Scott's 'Alien'. Hans Zimmer's score for another Ridley Scott film, 'Gladiator' so was so similar to Mars that it actually led to legal action by the Holst estate.
Japanese electronic wizard Isao Tomita produced a synthesiser adaptation of the entire Planet Suite on his 1976 album 'The Planets'. And Jeff Wayne of War of the Worlds fame, collaborated with Rik Wakeman on 2016 adaptation 'Beyond the Planets'. Tracks by rock bands Black Sabbath and King Crimson have used Mars in some of their guitar riffs. The World in Union composed by Charlie Starbek, which for many years has been the anthem of the Rugby World Cup, is based on Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.
Pluto was only discovered in 1930, four years before Holst died. In 1999 a new eighth movement entitled Pluto, the Renewer was added to the suite, composed by Colin Matthews and commissioned by the Hallé Orchestra. Pluto, however, lost its status as a planet in 2006 when it was reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union.
Don't forget that World Space Week (4th to 10th October) is fast approaching. This year's theme is living in space. The Interplanetary Society, based in Vauxhall, will, as usual, be taking the lead on any UK activity.
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