95% of you know more about music than I do, so it with great trust and complete seriousness that I ask; what is the deal with Jupiter?
Opus No. 32 - otherwise known as Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity - from the suite The Planets, by Gustav Holst is one of my favorite pieces of music:
But I do not understand it.
It was played on the classical radio station the other day on my way to work (more about that soon) and I was pleased to be able to hear the whole piece start to finish. I was also curious to know how it would sound after hearing the tinny totally-not-professionally-recorded version on my phone for so long. Part of Jupiter is my ring tone.
The beginning of the piece is fine, upbeat and jumpy - bringer of jollity, sure, I get that - and about three minutes in comes the greatest 1:53 of music known to man. I love that blurb right there. I tried for days to get the best copy I could for my phone and it never gets old when I hear it. But after the awesome swell and drums and strings...it trails off like someone forgot where they were and picks it back up further in. Yes, it references that minute fifty-three again but it's such a distinct movement with that weird ending and I don't know why it's like that.
This is me and what don't I know?
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2 comments:
You have better ears than you give yourself credit for. W/O realizing you are instinctively aware of the FORM of this musical composition. All memorable music from "Twinkle Little Star" to the "Hallelujah Chorus" consists of melodies organized together. This organization is called FORM. Each melody is assigned an alphabet letter; thus, Jupiter's FORM outline is:
Introduction-A-A'-B-C-A-A'-B-Coda
What you hear as the 'trails off' melody is the C section melody which is considered the theme melody of Jupiter. Gustav Holst took it from a stately, English melody entitled "Thaxed".
I blocked out all thematic analysis the day I graduated so I can't help you. But I will agree I loves me some Jupiter. I love that that's your ringtone! My ringtone can't be music because I'll start hating that song when it wakes up toddlers.
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