English composer Gustav Holst is an important figure in the music of the 20th century. Being influenced by this period in a musical and intellectual sense, he created a modern musical language without cutting ties with tradition. As well as being a composer, he was also a researcher, a trombone player, and a music educator. The great English composer and researcher Ralph Vaughan-Williams was Holst’s teacher and lifelong friend (New World Encyclopedia, 2017). Vaughan-Williams was a big influence on Holst’s music and the musical experience Holst gained through their researches together on English folk music is reflected in his works. 

In addition to traditional music, Holst was also very much interested in Eastern religions and spiritualism. The fundamental inspirations behind most of his works were mythology and astrology, which were fields that made use of symbolic language, and which he had both believed in and researched. In his works (under the influence of mythology), the composer tried to reflect the symbols from relevant myths. The opera Stila, the symphonic poem Indra, and the choral work Rig Veda are examples of Holst’s works which were inspired by Indian mythology (New World Encyclopedia, 2017). One of Holst’s other fields of interest was astrology (Head, 1983, p. 15). He was so thoroughly interested in astrology that he spent many years researching it. His close friend Alan Leo, who was an astrologist, had a great impact on him. Leo’s books and especially “The Art of Synthesis” (Leo, 1912) deeply affected the symbolism on which “The Planets” was founded. Astrology is grounded in characters and symbols from Ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Holst represents these characters and symbols in “The Planets” suite by his usage of instrumentation, specific harmonic language, themes and musical elements appropriate to their meanings. “The Planets” consists of seven movements. All seven planets in the Solar System except Earth are represented musically together with their mythological and astrological symbolisms. This article is a research on Holst’s beliefs and intellectual interests that affected and developed his musical approach. In this way, “Theosophical Society” (Campbell, 1980) and the concept of modernism (Arnason, 1998, p. 102) which were founded at the end of the 19th century are referenced.  

The modernist approach that had shaped the art of the 20th century deeply affected this English composer. However, he had his own understanding of modernism (Vaughan-Williams, 1920, p. 181). By not cutting ties with his own national musical traditions and reflecting his own thought and belief system in his music, Holst developed an original modernist style. 

The article then continues to discuss the symbolical language of “The Planets” and how it was reflected musically, by analyzing the work under separate titles for each movement. The composer lined up the planets in his own way. According to his arrangement, Mars is the first planet and Neptune is the last. This actually symbolizes the path of a person from youth to old age. Mars, the first movement, carries the characteristics of the war god. Whereas in Venus, the second movement, we hear a music with a contrasting character, which symbolizes peace. The third movement represents the winged messenger Mercury. The fourth movement carries the characteristics of the joyful and mighty Jupiter. The fifth movement which has a dark atmosphere characterizes Saturn, which symbolizes old age, law and order, and time. The sixth movement Uranus symbolizes an unpredictable character and is rebellious in nature. Finally, the seventh movement represents the end of a person’s journey that started with Mars in the beginning and ends in the afterlife. 

The article is divided into separate titles, each of which explains the characteristics of the gods of Roman mythology whose names were given to planets, and their equivalents in Ancient Greek mythology, from which they had originated. This character analysis is followed by a discussion on the explanations of the planets in “The Art of Synthesis”, which was an inspiration for “The Planets”. In light of this information, the reflection of each planet’s symbolism on its relevant movement was analyzed in excerpts. The fact that Gustav Holst so masterfully represented abstract ideas like symbols in music separates him from many of his colleagues and makes him very special. I believe that analyzing how an intellectual idea generates a musical work, how it is reflected in music, and how it is represented aurally are important in understanding the creative process in composing. I hope that this research draws attention to the possibility that a composer’s intellectual world, imagination, and beliefs can come to life through music, and how diverse the resources used in a composition can be.