Neptune is, of course, the Roman god of the Sea. Hence, I’ve got another piece of music I can tie into the Tales of the Sea Giveaway:
US Residents only.
Neptune is also the eighth planet from the Sun. Hence, the last movement of British composer Gustav Holst‘s suite The Planets is about Neptune.
The Planets is basically exactly what it sounds like, every known planet (Pluto not having been discovered yet, eventually to be demoted from the status of “planet” in 2006) except Earth gets a movement, and each movement has a distinct musical theme. Most of the planets have pretty obvious themes: Mars is the Bringer of War, Venus is the Bringer of Peace, Jupiter (being the god of hospitality) is Bringer of Jollity.
Neptune is “the Mystic“, which doesn’t really make mythological sense. Neptune is not one of the Greco-Roman gods associated with magic.
However, it makes astronomical sense when “Neptune” is interpreted as literally the planet, rather than symbolic of the god also named Neptune. Neptune was discovered in 1846. The Planets was written 1914-17 and pre-Space Age knowledge of the Solar System was a lot more limited than it’s become since the back half of the 20th century.
All of which is to say, Neptune was the newest and farthest-known planet — eventually surpassed by Pluto, itself eventually relegated to Dwarf Planet — and therefore an object of mystery of fascination, which is reflected in the musical theme of the Neptune movement.
It’s all very ethereal and enigmatic and weird.
Actually, and perhaps fittingly, it reminds me of some of the incidental music from Star Wars…
And, also, the entire suite is here.
The official Music to Write Realmgard to playlist has been updated to include this latest entry:
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