Is Gustav Holst a one hit wonder with THE PLANETS?

[Peter Power Pop]

My wife got to name both of our daughters  . That was the easy part, as she knew what she wanted. Naming our son was a nine month long fight  .

We only have two daughters (Hi, Celeste and Natalie!), so the naming wasn't too much of an ordeal.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

In another forum a debate has started over whether or not Gustav Holst is a one hit wonder with The Planets.

Some of us believe that there are other works of his that are notable.  For example his suites for military band.

Do you believe that Holst is a one hit wonder with The Planets?

If no, what other works do you consider notable?

I'm late to this party but here are my thoughts:

Yes!

Holst is very reasonably a "One Hit Wonder" Composer (OHWO / OHWOCO) since The Planets outstrip and overshadow his other works in popularity.

Who, if not someone like Holst, who is just about as famous as The Planets, would be? I think the concept of OHWOCO would be meaningless if he wasn't considered one.

In a twitter-survey (where Pachelbel won by a good margin) I tried to define an OH-WO-CO thus:

What makes a good One-Hit-Wonder composer?

1.) Just how famous is that one hit ("absolute height")
2.) How much more famous than any other work ("prominence")
  3.) How small, rich, or poor is the composer's body of work, apart from said hit. ("deserving")

Or does an OHWOCO need to be less famous than his work? Like Fučík?

That said, in my book OHWOCO-status does not preclude the composer from having written absolutely deserving, wonderful other music. And in fact, I would think that the OHWOCO-debate is interesting precisely because -- like in this thread -- it can be used to spotlight such works. But an obscure masterpiece or twenty in the output of a composer still only known for one work wouldn't preclude that status, I think.

Circling back: I think Holst might be a Top-3; definitely a Top-5 OHWOCO!

[Peter Power Pop]

Oh, that previous post (thanks, arpeggio) reminded me that I didn't get around to answering the question about whether Holst is a one-hit wonder or not.

To me, the answer is an emphatic yes.

People know about The Planets. They don't know his other stuff.

[arpeggio]

As I mentioned in the OP what about the Suites for Military Band?

According to my research in the United States they are much more frequently performed that The Planets.

As a band junkie it saddens me that there are still elements of the classical community that considered well composed concert band music to be an inferior form of classical music.

In another forum a gentleman from Minneapolis, Minnesota made the statement that my observation about The Suites was bogus.  After a few months he retracted his comments.  He monitored the programs of various community and school bands in the area and found several groups that performed one of The Suites.

I have had discussions with several choral junkies and they mentioned several of his choral works that are frequently performed.  One of the most popular is his Christmas Hymn, "In the Bleak Midwinter".

One can easily find many fine examples of these works on You Tube.  I found over a hundred samples of "In the Bleak Midwinter".  The following is a sample of a nice performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE0aIQp9V4s.  Not bad for a non-hit.

I will concede that it is his most notable orchestral work.

[mc ukrneal]

As I mentioned in the OP what about the Suites for Military Band?

According to my research in the United States they are much more frequently performed that The Planets.

As a band junkie it saddens me that there are still elements of the classical community that considered well composed concert band music to be an inferior form of classical music.

In another forum a gentleman from Minneapolis, Minnesota made the statement that my observation about The Suites was bogus.  After a few months he retracted his comments.  He monitored the programs of various community and school bands in the area and found several groups that performed one of The Suites.

I have had discussions with several choral junkies and they mentioned several of his choral works that are frequently performed.  One of the most popular is his Christmas Hymn, "In the Bleak Midwinter".

One can easily find many fine examples of these works on You Tube.  I found over a hundred samples of "In the Bleak Midwinter".  The following is a sample of a nice performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE0aIQp9V4s.  Not bad for a non-hit.

I will concede that it is his most notable orchestral work.

I agree with you. What's more, I know very few Christmas hymns like the one you posted, probably 5-10 in total. But I have totally heard this one! I had no idea it was by Holst.  It's very popular.

By the way, I am a fellow band junkie (my wife was giving me funny looks when I told her about some of the brass band stuff I was considering buying). Love the stuff! Played those Holst suites in the day (sax) - great to play.  Do you also watch the DCI stuff? I love that too (not sure if it's considered part of the same or separate). 

[amw]

I'd agree & would add that the music of the band suites, Planets, and Midwinter will be instantly familiar to most adults even if they had no idea who the composer was, simply because of the extent to which they've penetrated the culture. So maybe a 4 or 5 hit wonder

[Jo498]

It depends on the public one has in mind. Hardly anybody in continental Europe knows anything of these "band suites". If one takes the typical listener of classical music who might be in France, Poland or Japan, not in in anglophone culture where the band pieces or carols are commonly known, I think Jens is right. Holst is one of the clearest examples for a "one hit wonder".
Another one would be Mussorgsky, although here it is slightly more complicated because Boris Godunov is a reasonably well known opera and maybe also the "Night on a bare mountain". And the most famous piece is more famous because of Ravel...

[Irons]

I'm late to this party but here are my thoughts:

Yes!

Holst is very reasonably a "One Hit Wonder" Composer (OHWO / OHWOCO) since The Planets outstrip and overshadow his other works in popularity.

Who, if not someone like Holst, who is just about as famous as The Planets, would be? I think the concept of OHWOCO would be meaningless if he wasn't considered one.

In a twitter-survey (where Pachelbel won by a good margin) I tried to define an OH-WO-CO thus:

What makes a good One-Hit-Wonder composer?

1.) Just how famous is that one hit ("absolute height")
2.) How much more famous than any other work ("prominence")
  3.) How small, rich, or poor is the composer's body of work, apart from said hit. ("deserving")

Or does an OHWOCO need to be less famous than his work? Like Fučík?

That said, in my book OHWOCO-status does not preclude the composer from having written absolutely deserving, wonderful other music. And in fact, I would think that the OHWOCO-debate is interesting precisely because -- like in this thread -- it can be used to spotlight such works. But an obscure masterpiece or twenty in the output of a composer still only known for one work wouldn't preclude that status, I think.

Circling back: I think Holst might be a Top-3; definitely a Top-5 OHWOCO!

I agree with 1&2 but 3 should not be taken as read, I feel. The Planets cast a shadow over the rest of Holst's output and I think he did grow to resent that. The Planets are not typical of him and I think we should ask ourselves of his standing if that work had not been written. His individual mix of the East and English folk make him a composer well worth exploring, and after Elgar and RVW I would place him, sans The Planets, high in the field of competing runners of British composers - some would say that isn't saying a lot .

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Another one would be Mussorgsky.... [although] the most famous piece is more famous because of Ravel...

That should be a category of its own: Which composer is best known for a piece of music that isn't actually his. 

Gounod (Ave Maria), Flotow (Martha), and Musorgsky (Pictures) would be in the running, off the top off my head.

[amw]

Albinoni's Adagio...

[Florestan]

A few days ago I've been listening to a full 1-hour program of Holst's music on the Romanian classical music station. They played the Brook Green Suite, A Fugal Concerto and the Saint Paul Suite. I liked them very much --- nay, I just I loved them. He is now on my short list of composers to be explored further.

[Jo498]

That should be a category of its own: Which composer is best known for a piece of music that isn't actually his. 

Gounod (Ave Maria), Flotow (Martha), and Musorgsky (Pictures) would be in the running, off the top off my head.

To be fair, the tenor aria "Ach so fromm" is also quite famous and unlike "Last rose of summer" was composed by Flotow. And the soppy melody on top of the Bach prelude is also really Gounod's, isn't it.

I mentioned this already in another thread:
Haydn for Hofstetter's "Serenade quartet", Purcell for Clarke's "Trumpet Voluntary".
Even Bach's toccata & Fuge d minor is somewhat dubious and there is a song (Bist Du bei mir) in Anna Magdalena's notebook that is probably by Stölzel. I don't know what the current status of that Lullaby attr. to WA Mozart (Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein) is.

[Florestan]

Haydn for Hofstetter's "Serenade quartet"

Love that one.

[Jo498]

I used to call it the "Ladykiller's Serenade" but I am not sure if in that movie they mostly play (from a record) Boccherini's Menuet (the ONE from several hundred he must have written).
There is one very similar movement in Haydn's op.1 (not exactly sure of the number, probably #6), that is undoubtedly by Haydn. The greatest slow movement of that opus is the op.1#3, though. It uncommonly starts with a slow movement that is some kind of echo duet between the violins.

[Florestan]

The greatest slow movement of that opus is the op.1#3, though. It uncommonly starts with a slow movement that is some kind of echo duet between the violins.

Now I know what I'll be listening to tonight*. Thanks. 

* Beside some already scheduled Chopin, Faure and Rachmaninoff, that is. 

[Irons]

A few days ago I've been listening to a full 1-hour program of Holst's music on the Romanian classical music station. They played the Brook Green Suite, A Fugal Concerto and the Saint Paul Suite. I liked them very much --- nay, I just I loved them. He is now on my short list of composers to be explored further.

Add "Egdon Heath" to your list.

[Florestan]

Add "Egdon Heath" to your list.

Duly noted, thanks.

[vandermolen]

Add "Egdon Heath" to your list.

+1
The Choral Symphony is perhaps difficult to get hold of at first (Vaughan Williams found it so) but it is probably my favourite work by Holst and definitely worth exploring. I prefer it to the much better known 'Hymn of Jesus'.

[Mirror Image]

A few days ago I've been listening to a full 1-hour program of Holst's music on the Romanian classical music station. They played the Brook Green Suite, A Fugal Concerto and the Saint Paul Suite. I liked them very much --- nay, I just I loved them. He is now on my short list of composers to be explored further.

Like you, I feel I should spend more time with this composer's music. There's just so much music out there that it makes it difficult to commit time in getting to know a composer when you think you should be listening to something else (for whatever reason). From what I remember, besides The Planets, I seem to recall enjoying several Holst works, especially Egdon Heath, The Hymn of Jesus, The Perfect Fool - Ballet Suite, Japanese Suite, among others.

[JBS]

Of course Holst is a one hit wonder. So is Mozart, with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and Bach (BWV 565).
Some composers are zero-hit wonders. Brahms and Schubert (name any work by either that has the name recognition of Planets or EKN) for example.
Beethoven probably scores highest, with as many as four: Symphonies 5 and 9 (distilled into the opening of the first movement, and the last movement, respectively), the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata,  and Fur Elise.