Gustav Holst

Holst taught school and conducted amateur choirs for most of his working life, and wrote in the time that left him. Two things feed his music: English folk song, which he collected and arranged, and an interest in Hindu texts and astrology that he read in translation. The Planets comes out of the second, but the plain tunes and modal harmony come out of the first.

He writes for large forces with unusual economy. A passage will often be one rhythmic figure repeated in the low strings while everything above it changes colour, so the orchestra sounds full without every player working. He also likes meters that do not divide evenly: five beats to the bar, or seven, which keeps a march from settling into a comfortable tread.

His melodies tend to move by step and stay within a narrow range, like a folk singer rather than an opera singer. When a big tune does arrive it is usually diatonic and square, which is why it can be lifted out and sung.