Ron Chaplin wrote:

>Roger Hecht wrote:
>
>>No. I like this idea.  I think he's on to something I was aiming at when
>>I chose Vaughan-Williams Fifth Symphony.  Can I change that to Planets? I
>>think a *lot* of 20th century music was influeced by this piece.
>
>Roger, I was wondering if you would tell me how The Planets has been so
>influential.

To begin with, I think Wes Crone, who had the original idea, made some
interesting points on this.  Check his post.

Maybe I was being glib using the word "influential" since I don't now
what influenced each and every composer.  My original thought was Vaughan
Williams Fifth Symphony.  I was looking for something romantic and pastoral
because I thought both styles could be found in generous amounts in a
certain kind of 20th century music.  In effect, I was looking for the big
romantic symphony that didn't necessarily stem from Mahler.  I wasn't
entirely comfortable with VW-5 because it was a bit *too* pastorale and
quiet.  Maybe it was the modernistic tone to some of the harmonies that
appealed.  I also thought of Shostakovich 5.  That might be a better
choice, I suppose.  But then Wes mentioned Planets, a work that I never
thought of at all, and the idea was very appealing.

As he pointed out, I hear so much of the 20th century movie music in it.
The big orchestra stuff, anyway.  Now you can question whether movie music
(I'm speaking of the Korngold, Herrmann, Williams, etc., variety) counts,
but some movie music is an extension of 19th century opera, and that
gives it some right of place to me.  Besides, I like a great deal of this
music--to me, Korngold scores are huge symphonic poems or voiceless operas,
for example--and I hear a lot of the mood of the Planets in many of them.
Whether Korngold did is something else, of course.

I can't say whether the Planets influenced the great 20th century English
composers, but the dates of composition are right (1914-16), and I hear
more Holst in VW, et al.  than I do Elgar.

Another thing that appealed to me about the work is that it encompasses so
many styles.  It certainly is possible that Mars influenced Shostakovich.
Jupiter/Walton maybe.  Venus and Neptune are the quasi-modernistic quiet
works I was looking for.

In the end, I agree with Wes.  Planets is not necessarily 20th century
music but I hear the twentieth century in it.  And, unless I got the
rules wrong, that is part of the criteria behind this exercise.

Now whether any of this makes sense to anyone is another question.

Roger Hecht