Why did English composer Gustav Holst not include a suite for Pluto in his major work 'The Planets'?

The English composer, Gustav Holst (1874-1934) wrote the orchestral suite, 'The Planets' in between 1914 and 1917. Pluto was not discovered until 1930. Although Holst was still alive, he did not want to edit his orchestral suite to include Pluto. So, 'The Planets' only consists of suites dedicated to Mars, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Neptune. Holst did not include one for Earth.

Of 'The Planets', two of the best known are 'Mars, the Bringer of War' and 'Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity', which later became the melody for the anthem 'I Vow to Thee, My Country'. A lot of the music relates more to the Roman god counterparts rather than the actual planets. Mars is the god of war, hence the title 'Mars, the Bringer of War'.

Gustav Holst was a famous English composer from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He was the Director of Music at St Paul’s Girls’ School, Hammersmith in London. Some of his music was written for his pupils.

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21 Comments

Shelley Durocher

Silvia Levame, How does that make the answer incorrect. If I wrote a song about the provinces of Canada in 1948, and lived until 1959, my song would not have included Newfoundland, which was not a province until 1949. I could say that I didn't want to add a verse including Newfoundland. But whether or not I said that would not change the fact that Newfoundland was not a province when I wrote the song, just like Pluto was not included among the planets when he wrote The Planets. What happened after that is irrelevant.

John W Shreve

In fifth or sixth grade (way later than half of you), we learned the planets and thought it was cool that the last was a Disney character. On the test of course I wrote "Goofy."

Denise Currie

Veronica Luby-Hoey, It is now called a dwarf planet

Christopher Skinner

Great Orchestral work.

elizawheeler

I don't care what anyone says, Pluto will always be a planet to me. You can't tell me my whole life something is a planet and then pull the rug out from under me.

Leslie Clive Bedford

Denise Currie, It’s been down graded to a dwarf star now.

fdeisner

Back in the late 1990s I was driving across country from east coast to West Coast. I stopped at the Lowell Observatory which houses the telescope that was used to discover Pluto. In order to look through the telescope there was a 1 hour lecture. That night was a full moon and the telescope was trained on the Sea of Tranquility. It felt like I could reach out and touch it, it was pretty awesome. I'm sure this is a busy tourist attraction and most likely hundreds of thousands, possibly more, have done the same thing but it is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.

Agnes Forder

In my younger years I'd put on The Planet Suite and really make short work of house cleaning. Boy those were the days!

Karin Johansson

Wally Hannem, so what? He wrote the suite before it.

Karin Johansson

Maggie Hatton, so what?

Karin Johansson

Bob Gorby, wrong! He was not named after the planet, but the God!

Karin Johansson

Rodney Wilkinson, Hazel*

Karin Johansson

Char, Read the suite was written before they discovered Pluto! A composer can't change his or her work just because they find one more planet! It doesn't work that way!