1812 Overture


The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture, is a concert overture in E major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The piece commemorates Russia's successful defence against the French invasion of the nation in 1812.
The overture's first public performance, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani, took place in Moscow on, under a tent, near the still unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which also memorialised the 1812 defence of Russia.
The fifteen-minute overture is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, ringing chimes, and a brass fanfare finale. It has also become a common accompaniment to fireworks displays on the United States' Independence Day. The 1812 Overture went on to become one of Tchaikovsky's most popular works, along with his ballet scores to The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.

Instrumentation

The 1812 Overture is scored for an orchestra that consists of the following:
The carillon is sometimes replaced with tubular bells or recordings of carillons, or even church bells. In the sections that contain cannon shots, actual cannons are sometimes replaced by howitzers, tanks, fireworks, recorded cannons, or played on a piece of staging, usually with a large wooden mallet or sledgehammer as used in Mahler's 6th Symphony. The bass drum, and gong/tam-tam are also regularly used as cannon substitutes or adjuncts in indoor performances.
In his 1966 Deutsche Grammophon recording, Herbert von Karajan scored the first 02'43" for voices instead of strings at the start and the subsequent dialogue between strings and woodwind, adding the Russian Orthodox plainchant God Preserve Thy People text to the melody and slightly rearranging the texture to suit voices a capella rather than instruments. Two years later, the American conductor Igor Buketoff, son of a Russian Orthodox priest, went a stage further on his RCA Victrola recording with the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Not only did he deploy voices for the opening chant but he also had a children's chorus sing the folk tune "By the Gates" and brought the choir back to bolster the chant and the Russian Imperial national anthem God Save the Tsar!.

Composition

Historical background: Napoleon's invasion of Russia

On 7 September 1812, at Borodino, west of Moscow, Napoleon's forces met those of General Mikhail Kutuzov in a concerted stand made by Russia against the seemingly invincible French Army. The Battle of Borodino saw casualties estimated as high as 100,000 and the French were masters of the field. It was, however, ultimately a pyrrhic victory for the French invasion.
With resources depleted and supply lines overextended, Napoleon's weakened forces moved into Moscow, which they occupied with no delegation to receive the conquerors. Expecting a capitulation from Tsar Alexander I, the French instead found themselves in a barren and desolate city. To make things worse, 48 hours after Napoleon's entry to the Russian city on 14 September 1812, three quarters of Moscow was burned to the ground.
Deprived of winter stores, Napoleon had to retreat. Beginning on 19 October and lasting well into December, the French Army faced several overwhelming obstacles on its long retreat: famine, typhus, freezing temperatures, harassing cossacks, and Russian forces barring the way out of the country. Abandoned by Napoleon in November, the Grande Armée was reduced to one-tenth of its original size by the time it reached Poland and relative safety.
In 1869, the full edition of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy was published. The novel reported a very accurate description of the Napoleonic invasion of 1812, reviving memories of the Russian resistance. This led to the commissioning of new monuments, paintings and also of new musical compositions, including Tchaikovsky's.

Commission

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, commissioned in 1812 by Tsar Alexander I to commemorate the Russian victory, was nearing completion in Moscow in 1880; the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Alexander II would be at hand in 1881; and the 1882 All-Russia Arts and Industry Exhibition at Moscow 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 12 October 1880, finishing it six weeks later.
Organizers planned to have the overture 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" on cueand cannons, fired from an electric switch panel to achieve the precision the musical score required. However, this performance did not take place, possibly due in part to the over-ambitious plan. Regardless, the assassination of Alexander II that March deflated much of the impetus for the project. In 1882, during the All-Russia Arts and Industry Exhibition, the Overture was performed in a tent next to the unfinished cathedral. The cathedral was completed on 26 May 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 artistic merit, because I wrote it without warmth and without love." He put it together in six weeks. 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.
In Russia, during the Soviet era, the imperial anthem was replaced with the chorus "Glory, Glory to you, holy Rus'!", which came from the finale of Mikhail Glinka's opéra Ivan Susanin, a historical drama about a patriotic commoner of the same name. The original version of the song, written by Vasily Zhukovsky and Egor Fyodorovich Rozen, praised the Tsar and the Russian Tsardom, while the latter version by Sergey Gorodetsky was one of a patriotic form and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial anthem of Russia in the 20th century and even today. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, the original score returned.

Adaptation in other contexts

As a rousing patriotic hymn, the Overture has subsequently been adapted into and associated with other contexts than that of the Russian resistance to Napoleon's invasion. The 1812 Overture is popularly known in the United States as a symbol of the United States Independence Day, a tradition that dates back to a 1974 choice made by Arthur Fiedler for a performance at the Boston Pops July 4th concert. An earlier outdoors July presentation in the U.S. was by the National Symphony Orchestra, led by Howard Mitchell, on 7 July 1950--incorporation eight 75mm Howitzers. According to the NSO's management, the performance celebrated the sesquicentennial of the relocation of America's capital from Philadelphia to Washington, DC.
The piece was parodied by composer Malcolm Arnold in A Grand, Grand Overture which features four rifles, three Hoover vacuum cleaners, and an electric floor polisher in E♭; it is dedicated to President Hoover. The piece was also parodied by P. D. Q. Bach for the 1989 musical album 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults.

Structure

The piece begins with the simple, plaintive Russian melody of the Eastern Orthodox Troparion of the Holy Cross played by four cellos and two violas. This represents the Russian people praying for the victory. Then, the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", is heard, representing the invading French army. Then, the melody of "La Marseillaise" is heard competing against Russian folk music, representing the two armies fighting each other as the French approached Moscow. At this point, five cannon shots are heard, representing the Battle of Borodino. This is where "La Marseillaise" is most prominent, and seems to be winning. After this, a long descending run represents the French army retreating out of Moscow as the freezing winter winds rage on. At the end of this run the opening motif is repeated, which can be interpreted as prayers being answered. The grand finale culminates with eleven more cannon shots and the melody of "God Save the Tsar!".

Anachronism of nationalist motifs

Although La Marseillaise was chosen as the French national anthem in 1795, it was banned by Napoleon in 1805 and would certainly not have been played during the Russian campaign. It was only reinstated as the French anthem in 1879the year before the commission of the overturewhich can explain its use by Tchaikovsky in the overture. "Chant du départ", nicknamed "the brother of the Marseillaise" by French Republican soldiers, served as the official anthem of Napoleon's regime. However, it had been largely forgotten by 1882, while educated Russians of the time were likely to be familiar with the tune of "La Marseillaise" and recognize its significance.
Although "God Save the Tsar!" was the Russian national anthem during Tchaikovsky's lifetime, it did not exist in 1812. There was no official Russian anthem until 1815, from which time until 1833 the anthem was "The Prayer of Russians", sung to the tune of "God Save the King". The two songs both start with the same words, God Save the Tsar!, but diverge after that.