In Holst's suite 'The Planets' who is the bringer of old age?
The Planets before Holst's death, and was hailed by astronomers as the ninth planet. Holst, however, expressed no interest in writing a movement for the new planet. He had become disillusioned by the popularity of the suite, believing that it took too much attention away from his other works. In the final broadcast of his Young People's Concerts series in March, 1972, the conductor Leonard Bernstein led the New York Philharmonic through a fairly straight interpretation of the suite, though he discarded the Saturn movement because he thought the theme of old age was irrelevant to a concert for children. The broadcast
The Planets emotions associated with the influence of the planets on the psyche, not the Roman deities. The idea of the work was suggested to Holst by Clifford Bax, who introduced him to astrology when the two were part of a small group of English artists holidaying in Majorca in the spring of 1913; Holst became quite a devotee of the subject, and would cast his friends' horoscopes for fun. Holst also used Alan Leo's book "What is a Horoscope?" as a springboard for his own ideas, as well as for the subtitles (e.g., "The Bringer of...") for the movements. On 17