Puzzle of the Day

I can't resist the pull of one more Planets question. In The Planets, Jupiter is the Bringer of Jollity (not, as you might suppose, of ⚡Lightning Bolts and 👀 Serial Infidelity).

There's an English word that means "cheerful, jolly, good-humored" and that derives from yet another name for Jupiter/Zeus. What is that word?

Hint: I suggest you beg Jupiter's assistance; by him, I think you'll get it!

Check back tomorrow for the answer, a shoutout to all the solvers, and a new puzzle!

Previous puzzle:

Yesterday's puzzle was about planets; today's puzzle is about The Planets, a piece of music by Gustav Holst, whose opening is heard here:

(If you don't see an audio player in your browser, click here to open the audio file.)

1. The Planets has seven movements. The first one (heard above) is Mars, the Bringer of War. Others include Venus, the Bringer of Peace and Saturn, the Bringer of ___ ___. What does Saturn bring to all human beings? (Yesterday's puzzle might contain a clue.)

2. You can hear two harps in the clip above. Jason points out something odd about the scoring. Instead of repeating a single note, each harp goes back and forth between two octaves:

   

   But you don't hear the octave jumps when you listen. Why don't you hear them, and why did Holst score the piece this way?

Answer:

Saturn is the Bringer of Old Age. This was hinted at by his Greek name, Kronos, mentioned the previous day; chronos means 'time' and is the root of words like chronic, chronology, and anachronism. (So, how old is Saturn? Well, just count the rings, hehe...)

As for the second part, many of you had inspired guesses: the harps are aimlessly "fighting", Holst is just trying to keep the harpists from getting bored, or simply "Holst was an artist."

Jason explains the real answer: "He scores it this way because it's hard to pluck a single harp string rapidly. (Even if you do it with two hands, each note gets in the way of the previous note, so it doesn't resonate the right way.) Note that the two harps are playing the top vs. bottom notes opposite to each other. So overall, the listener hears one harp playing the motif on the high G, and the other on the low G, with no octave jumps. It's an auditory illusion!"

Alas, Jason also pointed out that the harps are inaudible in the clip I posted.

Congratulations to those who solved one or both parts: Valerie, Peter V., Anna K., Maddy, Jason, and Dr. Yetman!