Let’s axe the ‘1812’ Overture once and for all
by Eric R. Terzuolo, opinion contributor - 07/09/22 3:30 PM ET
I applaud the decision of some U.S. orchestras to strike Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” from their July 4 concert programs. This musical composition is a tribute to the military might of Tsarist Russia, specifically the Russian victory over Napoleon’s invading Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino in September 1812. When Napoleon retreated from Russia at the end of that year, Tsar Alexander I declared that, to commemorate the Russian victory, he would build a cathedral in Moscow to Christ the Savior. Construction was approaching completion in 1880 when Tchaikovsky received the commission for what became the “1812 Overture.” It had its world premiere in a tent outside the cathedral construction site in August 1882. Although the piece would make the Tchaikovsky estate vast sums of money, the composer himself admitted that his heart was never in the project and wrote: “It is impossible to tackle without repugnance this sort of music which is destined for the glorification of something that, in essence, delights me not at all.” But one can’t deny that Tchaikovsky’s brief labors produced a genuinely rousing piece of music.
Nonetheless, we should look beyond the specific situation of 2022 and expunge the “1812 Overture” from all future July 4 concerts in the U.S.
This proposal admittedly will not go down well with Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, who, when interviewed by the New York Times, argued that the Pops would play the piece this year “to celebrate independence and freedom and people who are willing to sacrifice a lot to make that happen.” In his view, the overture can remind people of “the perils of aggression.” The Russians of 1812, in his view, were the Ukrainians of 2022. The fundamental problem, in his view, is “the attempt of authoritarian powers to dominate other powers.” In Illinois, the Napierville Municipal Band kept the overture on its program, and the narrator described it as a “depiction of all victories over oppression, including our own War of 1812” and referred to the Battle of Gettysburg.
more
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3551018-lets-axe-the-1812-overture-once-and-for-all/
