Starting a new tradition today. The first in what I hope to be many subsequent posts on the songs you think you know. I would like to thank Dave and the National Symphony Orchestra for the idea for this one.
So the 1812 Overture. Sure, I could link you to Wikipedia and tell you to read, but then I'd loose you into the morass that is Wikipedia.
So instead, I will lay a little trivia on you in the hopes that you find it interesting and perhaps drive you to take a trip down to your public library. It's all in Books!
First the basics you should all know. The 1812 Overture is the one with the cannons at the end. Tchaikovsky wrote it. They play it all the time at Fourth of July celebrations, and in movies where stuff blowing up is a good thing.
Tchaikovsky wrote it in 1880 for the grand opening of a Cathedral. The Cathedral was commissioned to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon's army in 1812. This was a major turning point in the Napoleonic wars. The Cathedral went through many iterations and moved at least once, but was nearing completion in time for the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Tsar Alexander II. The plan was that the celebration would happen in the completed Cathedral with the music playing. Instead, the Tsar was assassinated days before the anniversary, and the debut of the piece was delayed; and yet it was still played in 1882, a year before the cathedral was finished.
The history of the piece being played as an American Patriotic piece is a little harder to track, but lets try. Both the Boston Pops and the National Symphony Orchestra play it at the end of their respective Fourth of July celebrations. Erich Kunzel conducts the NSO for the Fourth of July celebration. He is widely known as the conductor if the Cincinnati Pops, and before that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure as conductor of the CSO he was known for making THE recording of 1812, with digitally recorded canon fire. In Boston, Arthur Fiedler conducted the Boston Pops until his death in 1979. During this time he instigated the still current tradition of the Boston Fourth of July concert. Erich Kunzel was considered the front runner to replace Fiedler, but started his own Pops group instead. I have not found the bridge between the two yet, but studying photographic evidence leads me to one of two conclusions: white facial hair or bow ties. These two men are definitely the reason we play this piece at patriotic events.
Why do I care? Well, it may seem trivial to you (that's part of why I like it) but I have a fascination with America's culture of theft; of absorption if you want to use a less antagonistic term. The 1812 Overture is a Russian piece of music, composed to help celebrate the defeat of the French. In fact, it contains (rather prominently) the Old Russian national anthem God Save the Tsar! The Star-Spangled Banner is set to the tune of an old British drinking song. My Country 'Tis of Thee is set to God save the Queen. Yankee Doodle is a British song mocking Americans. We even absorb our own bloody history, singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie both as patriotic. The Marine Hymn? Lyrics are by an unknown writer, but the song is by French Operetta Composer Offenbach for an opera about a woman falsely accused of infidelity. Hail to the Chief is a interesting amalgamation of Scottish and British lyrics and tune, having more to do with Arthurian Legend than anything American. Alright, I've gotten off topic again. I'm not sure why I named this blog after three mischief spirits. At least one of them is constantly dragging me off.
I hope you enjoyed this inaugural edition of "Davey knows a lot of worthless trivia" Hope you all had a happy fourth of July. More to come today, have to get back to work.
2 comments:
That's all very interesting- it's a lot of triva to know! All I know is that when my dad bought a brand new thing called a CD player back in 1982, he used a digital recording of the 1812 Overture ("with REAL canons!") to prove the new machine's superiority to us. (It was very loud and clear, to be sure.) He liked it so much that he would play it very loudly at 7am on Saturday mornings in his workroom- which happened to be next to my bedroom as a teenager. I hate to say, but I cannot STAND the 1812 Overture.
I think we play it on Independence Day because some simple mind thought it would be cool to play something with loud sounds like a canon while watching something loud like fireworks. I'm sure very few Americans know it's not an American tune.
OK, that CD you are talking about is the recording I was talking about. It was that recording with the canons that helped push 1812 even more into the American conscience. Don't you love how Fathers rationalize the extravagant purchase? Mothers never really seem to have an urge to tell the children why they just spent $300 dollars (or more) on something, but a Dad really seems to relish the new shiny thing and expects his children to do the same. I can't wait to start doing that. :)
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