# By Jove!



## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Last night, after feeding the woodstove at 3 a.m., I found myself humming to myself the central section of the "Jupiter" movement of Holst's "The Planets." This is a stately, but rather meandering, processional that rather fits the head god, that was later used to set a patriotic British hymn after the Great War. It must be a favorite of Prince Charles, because it was sung at both his wedding to Di and Prince Harry's. To me, the odd thing about it is that, although there are a bunch of places where Holst could have put in a perfect cadence, he doesn't, and it can have the effect of being endless -- like Escher's monks going up and down the same flight of stairs. In Jupiter, Holst segue's back to Part A by fading out an unresolved chord. In church, it just seems to go on and on. (I have this notion of a weird British tradition by which a new stanza is added onto the end every time it's sung -- meaning by 2056 it will take three and a half hours to sing -- and no one will notice. -) ) It's really an effectively moving piece -- just oddly indeterminate.

george


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