How ancient mystical beliefs inspired a 20th-century classic

On 29 September 2018, Professor Brian Cox joins forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Radio 3 to mark the centenary of Holst’s The Planets, a piece of music that for some defines the sound of space.

Prof Cox will use cutting-edge NASA technology to delve into the latest science behind our knowledge of the solar system. But Holst’s original inspiration for The Planets was altogether more curious...

It began in Majorca.

In 1913, 39-year-old Gustav Holst travelled to Spain for a boys’ holiday. With him were two fellow composers, Balfour Gardiner and Arnold Bax, plus Arnold’s brother Clifford. Early on in their train journey through the continent, Holst mentioned that he had acquired a strange new hobby.

Gustav Holst retained an interest in astrology throughout his life

“We occupied the four corners of a carriage,” Clifford wrote later, “and while Gardiner was mastering the enigmas of a Spanish timetable, and my brother remembering all the necessary objects that he had forgotten to pack, Holst informed me that he had just become interested in astrology, and on such a congenial topic I discoursed at length.”

Astrology (not to be confused with astronomy) is an ancient tradition that studies celestial events, like the movement of the planets, in order to predict human events and behaviour. Holst’s interest in the subject had already led him to read a slim volume entitled “What is the horoscope and how is it cast?” by the popular astrologer Alan Leo – and Clifford Bax turned out to be quite the authority on horoscopes. He and Holst discussed astrology animatedly for the rest of the holiday, much to their companions’ distress.

Holst was inspired and the very next year began work on The Planets, his most popular work. It was divided into seven movements, each one named after a planet in the solar system (as they were known at the time) and embodying that planet’s character, as defined by Alan Leo’s astrological teachings.

Alan Leo – AKA “the father of modern astrology” – was a fascinating character.

Over the course of his career, he dabbled in many esoteric practices that were considered unusual at the time, from vegetarianism to numerology and theosophy. But his real passion was astrology. Leo was keen to rid the practice of its reputation for superstition. He even referred to astrology as “the science of tendencies”, arguing that horoscopes should be used as a basis for character analysis, rather than for predicting the future.

Alan Leo, pictured in The Art of Synthesis (1912)

This did not, however, prevent Leo from becoming one of the last astrologers to be successfully prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act. In 1914 – the year that Holst wrote the music for Mars, Venus and Jupiter – Leo was accused of fortune-telling, a charge of which he was acquitted. In 1917, however (by which time Holst had completed Mercury, Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter), Leo was charged with “unlawfully pretending and professing to tell fortunes”. This time, he was convicted and fined. He died soon afterwards of a cerebral haemorrhage; history does not record whether he saw it coming.

So how seriously did Holst take astrology?

Was it a harmless hobby or a more deeply held belief? We know that he found astrology amusing enough to refer to it as his “pet vice”, and that he would continue to cast horoscopes for his friends throughout his life. He certainly found the astrological characters of the planets compelling enough to illustrate in music. 100 years on, The Planets remains Holst's best-known and best-loved work.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Ben Gernon and Professor Brian Cox celebrate The Planets with a fresh scientific and musical view of Holst’s vividly atmospheric masterpiece – 100 years to the day from its first performance. Listen on Radio 3 in Concert.