Super Mario Bros. 3 is acclaimed by critics as one of the greatest video games of all time. It is the third-best-selling NES game, having sold over 17 million copies worldwide. It also inspired a short-lived animated television series. Remakes were released on the Super NES in 1993 and the Game Boy Advance in 2003.
The music of Gustav Holst, primarily The Planets, has influenced the writing and orchestration of film, video game, and contemporary composers of the 20th and 21st century. While Holst may not be the only major influence on the modern composer, his writing techniques, and ideas can be heard beyond The Planets. To understand why he has been so influential, we must look a bit into his background as a composer and what his visions were in his music.
Gustav Holst was an English composer of the late 19th and early 20th century. As a child he grew up playing the violin, which he hated, as well as the piano (Taylor). Gustav struggled with music all throughout his early life. He tried piano, and composition, but eventually landed his first job as a choirmaster in 1893. Soon after giving it another go at composition, Gustav’s father agreed to send him to Music College where Holst studied composition. He became obsessed with the music of Wagner and Bach and he decided to take up trombone in order to play in orchestras and experience this music first hand (Colin). Throughout college Holst continued to compose and even one a scholarship for doing so. While these early pieces were never performed publicly, they helped him build lifelong friendships in the music world. Being very open Holst explored music and ideologies from all over. His second major work was an opera that was based on Sanskrit teachings that he translated himself (Taylor).
Holst wrote various compositions and continued to expand his knowledge of orchestral music. It was in 1914 that his most notable works, the Planets was written. The first piece he wrote, “Mars, The Bringer of War” signaled the outbreak of WWI. This seven-piece orchestral set was nothing like anything else at the time. There had been other multi-piece thematic movements by Strauss, Debussy, and Stravinsky, but none to this scale. It was at the same time Holst discovered the music of Stravinsky that he began work on The Planets (Colin). The entire work took three years to compose in total. Holst recorded the early performances of his piece with the LSO, back in the early twenties, something that some film composers still do. The Planets is a seven-movement piece, with each piece signifying one of the main planets, excluding Earth.
The pieces that have been borrowed most frequently by other composers are “Mars, The Bringer of War, and Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity.” These pieces to me stand out from the rest of the work for many reasons such as the chordal harmony, the melodies, and just the texture created. It’s not so much that you’re visualizing a planet in space, but envisioning a full-fledged cinematic experience in your mind’s eye. Holst himself saw the piece as a journey through life, from the creation of life itself to life’s end (Lace).
Holst wrote various compositions and continued to expand his knowledge of orchestral music. It was in 1914 that his most notable works, the Planets was written. The first piece he wrote, “Mars, The Bringer of War” signaled the outbreak of WWI. This seven-piece orchestral set was nothing like anything else at the time. There had been other multi-piece thematic movements by Strauss, Debussy, and Stravinsky, but none to this scale. It was at the same time Holst discovered the music of Stravinsky that he began work on The Planets (Colin). The entire work took three years to compose in total. Holst recorded the early performances of his piece with the LSO, back in the early twenties, something that some film composers still do. The Planets is a seven-movement piece, with each piece signifying one of the main planets, excluding Earth.
The pieces that have been borrowed most frequently by other composers are “Mars, The Bringer of War, and Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity.” These pieces to me stand out from the rest of the work for many reasons such as the chordal harmony, the melodies, and just the texture created. It’s not so much that you’re visualizing a planet in space, but envisioning a full-fledged cinematic experience in your mind’s eye. Holst himself saw the piece as a journey through life, from the creation of life itself to life’s end (Lace).
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