ThePlanets-Mercury

** Mercury ** ** III. Mercury, the Winged Messenger **

For his musical depiction of the planet closest to the sun, Holst again turned to the mythological description of the planet's namesake (the Roman god Mercury or Greek god Hermes). Mercury was the messenger of the gods. Take a look at a statue depicting Mercury (or Hermes):

Holst creates a sense of constant movement (or perpetual motion) to give the listener a musical image of the god speeding (or planet) speeding through space. Occasionally, the music slows with a beautiful sweeping and swelling string melody, yet the anxious music returns. Take a listen: media type="youtube" key="6yIKu3LSwcE?rel=0" height="480" width="640" align="center" media type="custom" key="22156996"