week-45

The music of Gustav Holst comes as a surprise to a listener who might be hearing The Planets for the first time. His Mars, the Bringer of War conjures up a terrifying vision of war, which we after having experienced war on such a brutal scale as the piece conjures up, can well appreciate. When he wrote it in 1914 World War was still in future. Born and bred in Cheltenham in England he obviously was spared all those brutalities that Europe had witnessed of the last century. His grandfather in the early 1800’s emigrated from St.Petersberg and settled in England into a life peace and respectability. So the question arises: from whence came the clairvoyant quality of his music? Great writers and artists all have shown such remarkable skill to anticipate events before they actually occurred. The names of Jules Verne and Arthur C. Clarke come to mind.
Does man carry memory of his race? Truth of his experience allows him by leap of imagination to present matters that can well be true.
benny