Song 3 - Jupiter Movement from The Planets by G. Holst

For today's choice I have gone classical to try and put some mixture in the jukebox. Not before you think this is an off beat choice - have you ever watched International Rugby and listened to the tune to the tune "World in Union"? Yes, then you already know some of the music.  If you haven't heard any of it I would recommend spending the 7 minutes to discover it. The whole movement is like a group of friends sharing a jolly meal. The phrasing of the brass and the woodwind section is as rich to listen to as cleverly worded prose. Rightly named Bringer of Jollity, it is a piece of music that always brings a smile to my face.

Written between 1914 - 1916 by Gustav Holst, Jupiter is the fourth movement, but wrote Mars, Venus and Jupiter in 1914. Some believe Jupiter is the centre of The Planets suite. There was no Pluto movement written by Holst as Pluto wasn't discovered until four years before the Holst's death. Pluto has significant for me as one of the first characters I ever created for a homework story, was an alien from Pluto, called Zappie. I know the name was really originally, but this was the first time I found myself caught up in creating a world of fiction and appeared in the first collection of short stories that I sold around my high school for charity. There is still a part of me who would like to do something with the character Zappie.

Getting back to the music; even though finding a new planet must have been really significant Holst had no intension of writing a new movement for his piece of music. The Pluto movement was eventually written by Colin Matthews. The World in Union's lyrics were written by Charlie Skarbek.

Listen to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz0b4STz1lo

Written - Gustav Holst, 1914
Album - The Planets