![]() As conductor Benjamin Zander has argued, Holst “was interested in astrology and the character of each of the planets, and the way it manifested itself in the human psyche… It’s not about the planets. Gustav Holst: The Planets - “Mars, the Bringer of War”Ĭompleted in 1916, Gustav Holst’s every-popular suite is less about the heavenly bodies and more about the characteristics of the gods after whom they are named. Though the composer himself was somewhat embarrassed by the populist bent of the piece, its concluding triumphant section, with a rousing rendition of the Tsar’s hymn accompanied by a live cannonade, is surely one of the most thrilling moments in all of music.ħ. Making use of the tune of the French Marseillaise as well as the hymn, “God Save the Tsar!,” the work tells the story of Napoleon’s advance into Russia and eventual retreat west during the brutal winter of 1812. The tone of the entire work is one of intense supplication, and it concludes with a rousing and moving Dona Nobis Pacem.Ī popular piece today in the United States during Fourth of July concerts, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture was written in 1880 to commemorate Tsarist Russia’s victory over Napoleon. Haydn himself christened the work Missa in Tempore Belli, employing martial-sounding timpani in the Agnus Dei, a feature that has led others to nickname the work the “Kettledrum Mass” (“ Paukenmesse“). The pagan philosopher Damascius reported that the fighting was so intense that “the ghosts of those who fell continued the struggle for three whole days and nights as violently as if they had been alive the clash of their arms was clearly audible.” This image is what what inspired von Kaulbach and in turn, Liszt.įranz Joseph Haydn composed this, his tenth setting of the Roman Catholic Mass, in the city of Eisenstadt, Austria, in 1796, as French Revolutionary armies won victories in Italy and German and threatened to invade Austria itself. ![]() There on the plains of Gaul, Attila’s forces fought a desperate, bloody, and ultimately inconclusive battle against armies under the Roman General Flavius Aëtius and the Visigothic king Theodoric. One of the composer’s many tone poems, Franz Liszt’s Hunnenschlacht -written in 1857 -was inspired by the painting of the same name by Wilhelm von Kaulbach, which depicts the battle of the Catalaunian Fields of 451. Here are ten great pieces of classical music that dramatize war, celebrate its resolution, and recall its sacrifices. Across the centuries, composers have been inspired by the twin dramas of human conflict and the subsequent making of peace.
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