1812 Overture and 4th of July fuckery

Started by AllPurposeAtheist, March 27, 2015, 08:17:22 PM

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AllPurposeAtheist

You probably hear the song at fireworks displays every year at least in the US, but it's a recent development thanks to Boston Pops and Arthur Fiedler.. Now most Americans falsely believe that the 1812 overture was about the war with the Brits..duh..

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The 1812 Overture, which you will hear on the Fourth of July, was written by a Russian composer,  Tchaikovsky, to celebrate Russia's defeat of Napoleon at Moscow. The Overture begins with a Russian Orthodox hymn and includes the Russian national anthem, God Save the Czar; the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, is very clearly blown to smithereens. The Overture entered the American patriotic songbook in 1974 as a brilliant publicity stunt by Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler.





History. (from Wikipedia)

In 1880, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, commissioned by Tsar Alexander II to commemorate the Russian victory, was nearing completion in Moscow; the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Alexander II would be at hand in 1881; and the 1882 Moscow Arts and Industry Exhibition was in the planning stage. Tchaikovsky's friend and mentor Nikolai Rubinstein suggested that he write a grand commemorative piece for use in related festivities. Tchaikovsky began work on the project on October 12, 1880, finishing it six weeks later.

The piece was planned to be performed in the square before the cathedral, with a brass band to reinforce the orchestra, the bells of the cathedral and all the others in downtown Moscow playing "zvons" (pealing bells) on cue, and live cannon fire in accompaniment, fired from an electric switch panel in order to achieve the precision demanded by the musical score in which each shot was specifically written. However, this performance did not take place, possibly partly due to the over-ambitious plan. Regardless, the assassination of Alexander II that March deflated much of the impetus for the project. In 1882, at the Arts and Industry Exhibition, the Overture was performed indoors with conventional orchestration. The cathedral was completed on May 26, 1883.

Meanwhile, Tchaikovsky complained to his patron Nadezhda von Meck that he was "not a conductor of festival pieces," and that the Overture would be "very loud and noisy, but [without] artistic merit, because I wrote it without warmth and without love," adding himself to the legion of artists who from time to time have castigated their own work. It is this work that would make the Tchaikovsky estate exceptionally wealthy, as it is one of the most performed and recorded works from his catalog.
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

aitm

Don't FUCK with us mericans you commie mother fucker!!!…………..!……..!
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

trdsf

I love the 1812 -- one of the best performances I ever was immersed in was the first ToledoFest in 1979 or so with the Toledo Symphony live, a brace of howitzers from the Ohio National Guard performing one last service before retirement, and all the church bells downtown (to say nothing of the fireworks along the river).  Sheer bliss... even though I was a little too near the howitzers when they fired.

Like I said, immersive.  I still get a catch in the throat and a thrill up the spine remembering it.

Oh yeah.  Labor Day weekend, not July 4.  :)
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

stromboli

I already knew that, dealt with it and moved on.

Poison Tree

I've complained about that every 4th of July for a decade now--and boy is my family sick of hearing about it.
"Observe that noses were made to wear spectacles; and so we have spectacles. Legs were visibly instituted to be breeched, and we have breeches" Voltaire�s Candide

trdsf

I don't mind the 1812 at July 4 -- it's a natural fit for the fireworks, and when they're timed correctly, very effective.

The part of July 4 I don't like are the goobers who snap to attention for that Lee Greenwood 'God Bless the USA' piece of jingoistic shit, but can't be bothered to attend to the actual national anthem.  I recall more than one year where the only two people to remove their hats (well, baseball caps) and go hand over heart were me and my partner -- the two longhaired hippie fags.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

AllPurposeAtheist

I just find it, uhhh, odd all the 'patriotic' numb nuts who wrap themselves in the flag....oh never mind.. It just came up yesterday and no big deal..
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

stromboli

With 3 kids raised in Utah, I have heard "Proud To Be An American" sung, hummed, played on kazoo and used in place of the national anthem. You think you are sick of it?

I lived next to an American Legion hall for awhile. You want to get sick of phony patriots, that'll do it.

aitm

Quote from: stromboli on March 28, 2015, 09:13:04 AM

I lived next to an American Legion hall for awhile. You want to get sick of phony patriots, that'll do it.

HEY! Ima got damn Honorary Member of the Glenn Staley AMerican Legion Hall 422 in goddamn god bless Hale Michigan where I was given a fine 500.00 collage scholarship and a fine blue jacket dat said, "Honorary Member" on a damn fine fancy gold colored emblem on it.  True Dat. Best place in town to go get a fifty cent beer….not that I ever did……some mighty strange folks in dat place.
A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

stromboli

Quote from: aitm on March 28, 2015, 09:21:26 AM
HEY! Ima got damn Honorary Member of the Glenn Staley AMerican Legion Hall 422 in goddamn god bless Hale Michigan where I was given a fine 500.00 collage scholarship and a fine blue jacket dat said, "Honorary Member" on a damn fine fancy gold colored emblem on it.  True Dat. Best place in town to go get a fifty cent beer….not that I ever did……some mighty strange folks in dat place.

Nothing like a drunk on a Harley trying to lay down rubber at 1 in the morning to disturb your sleep. You can't call the cops because two of them are standing on the lawn drunk laughing their asses off watching.

Solitary

It is thought that it was about the war because of the beginning of the song that goes ta ta ta da which is Morris Code for V victory.  :biggrin2:
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.