VENUS
Overcome by the power and clamor of Mars, Holst desired peace. Hence ‘Venus the Bringer of Peace.
In Holst view on the progression of life, after all of the clamor and anxiety of Mars, Venus would be clear to come next and give some calm. Peace can only reign supreme when the warring power of Mars has spent itself. The opening horn solo, answered by three phlegmatic flutes, is an invocation to peace, showing that in order to achieve peace we must desire it. Leo called Venus the unifier and maintained that it created orderly harmonious motion, everywhere it produces order whether in action, feeling and intellect. The tri-tonal relationships of the first movement have resolved to become centered on the upward perfect fourth as in the gently horn and violin solos, and the downward perfect fifth heard in the violins. The whole movement is imbued with a new, restrained romantic feeling and abounds in references to previous works. Has the feelings of friendship in the middle Largo section.
In Holst view on the progression of life, after all of the clamor and anxiety of Mars, Venus would be clear to come next and give some calm. Peace can only reign supreme when the warring power of Mars has spent itself. The opening horn solo, answered by three phlegmatic flutes, is an invocation to peace, showing that in order to achieve peace we must desire it. Leo called Venus the unifier and maintained that it created orderly harmonious motion, everywhere it produces order whether in action, feeling and intellect. The tri-tonal relationships of the first movement have resolved to become centered on the upward perfect fourth as in the gently horn and violin solos, and the downward perfect fifth heard in the violins. The whole movement is imbued with a new, restrained romantic feeling and abounds in references to previous works. Has the feelings of friendship in the middle Largo section.
General Analysis and Outline of Venus
VENUS, the bringer of peace. She is announced by four ascending notes in the solo horn and a sequence of converging chords in the flutes and oboes. Most of her music lies, symbolically, in the middle and upper registers of the instruments; and harps, celestes, and glockenspiel further characterise her heavenly nature. In addition there are beautiful melodies for her in the solo violin and oboe. Though this is music of surpassing serenity it is not simple in harmony, texture or orchestral sonority. One cannot help but observe how fitting it is that the state of peace be described in complex terms, in contrast to the complicity of the depiction of war.
Theme of Section A
In this picture, the opening horn solo is shown with the descending chords by the woodwind section.
Theme of Section B
The melody that is played by the violin solo adding to the peaceful nature of Venus.
