1812 overture

[NomoneyNohoney]

I love listening to the 1812 overture - my taste in classical music is basically simple - it must be loud and raucous! I know that the music symbolises various things, the retreat of the army, the liberation and suchlike, but I wonder if there's anywhere that I can check this as the music plays, so I have a better understanding of the nuances. Kinda like YouTube with subtitles as we go along! Anyone?

[mc2fool]

I love listening to the 1812 overture...

Book yourself a trip to Boston for the next July 4th. They have a free orchestral concert on the Esplanade, which is a park adjacent to the river, and the finale is always the 1812 -- and an army artillery unit brings along and fires real cannons and the churches in central Boston all ring their bells at the appropriate times and the explosions segue into a huge fireworks display!

The orchestra is the Boston Pops and was and I see still is conducted by John Williams for the concert. I don't know how a purist would regard their rendition of the 1812 but the atmosphere, with real cannons, real church bells, fireworks, and a friendly good-mood crowd is fantastic.

Get there early! The first time I went I was on a business trip and had heard there was a free concert there and went along, but totally unprepared. I arrived mid afternoon and I don't think I've ever seen, then or since, so many people in one place. After half an hour of stepping my way through the continuous mass of picnics I got to a point where I just couldn't see a way further forward, and although I could see the Hatch Shell (the stage) I was still a long way away from it.

But no problem, as it turned out, 'cos the concert is broadcast on a local radio station and I was surrounded by picnickers with boom box type radios! So I just put myself down and was kind of adopted by a couple of the adjacent picnicking groups (be prepared for "The British are coming" jokes!) who offered company, food and drink, and even the occasional joint.

https://www.boston-discovery-guide.com/ ... works.html

[Dod101]

I love listening to the 1812 overture - my taste in classical music is basically simple - it must be loud and raucous! I know that the music symbolises various things, the retreat of the army, the liberation and suchlike, but I wonder if there's anywhere that I can check this as the music plays, so I have a better understanding of the nuances. Kinda like YouTube with subtitles as we go along! Anyone?

Certainly mc2fool's description of the Boston Pops rendition of the 1812 should leave you in no doubt but surely somewhere on the internet there must be a sort of programme note which would help you. Or find a CD of the Boston Pops Orchestra (or another Orchestra) playing it. I will have it somewhere. You should find plenty of written notes (as opposed to orchestral ones) which would help to marry the music to the scene being portrayed.

mc2fool writes of the British coming. That reminds me of one very hot 4 July in Hong Kong many years ago, when we had a resident slightly barmy Scotsman who carried his bagpipes everywhere. The US Consulate in Hong Kong was huge in Colonial times because it was full of spooks spying on China and they organised a 4 July super picnic in the countryside. The barmy Scotsman found a few others who played the pipes and with some hangers on, including myself, we came over a hill and barged in on the party. The Americans took it all in good part, especially with the bagpipes accompanied by a decent selection of whisky.

Dod

[bungeejumper]

My dad was not a classical music buff - Joe Loss and Herb Alpert were more his style - but one Christmas he decided that he wanted what he said was the only recording of the 1812 to have used real cannon. (This was in vinyl days, probably late 1960s). So we bought it for him.

It was awful. The sound engineers would have been on a hiding to nothing, trying to match a 25 pounder against an orchestra with barely a tenth of the decibel count. They seemed to have compensated by situating the heavy weaponry at least half a mile from the orchestra pit, so all you got from the artillery section was a dull crump, arriiving in rather uncertain time with the music.

No matter. Dad loved it, which was all that mattered. It rather put me in mind of that old quote from Sir Thomas Beecham:

The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.

BJ

[Arborbridge]

I was brought up on the Antal Dorati version with superbly recorded cannon and the multi tracked bells of the Harkness Memorial Tower (if memory serves) - must still be one of the best. Most versions with "real" cannon and bells are pathetic when set next to this one. Also interesting for the technical tracks showing how they made the recording.


Later, I heard the version with a choir, and that does add something too.

Tchaikovsky was dismissive of this work and rather disliked it. I think it is underated bercause it is a lovely occasion piece, cleverly constructed and executed.

Arb.

[Howyoudoin]

I love listening to the 1812 overture - my taste in classical music is basically simple - it must be loud and raucous! I know that the music symbolises various things, the retreat of the army, the liberation and suchlike, but I wonder if there's anywhere that I can check this as the music plays, so I have a better understanding of the nuances. Kinda like YouTube with subtitles as we go along! Anyone?

It’s a good question and my Russian Mrs definitely knows as she attempted to talk me through it at the Classical Spectacular last year but I shushed her. Bit rude of me but I can’t stand people continuously trying to talk in my ear at a music concert.

I will try to broach the subject with her and ask her to try and explain it again.

HYD

[NomoneyNohoney]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0BLK4rs0Sw
Look what I found! The best 1812 overture ever!

[NomoneyNohoney]

I will try to broach the subject with her and ask her to try and explain it again.

Thanks HYD but how can I identify her 'points of interest' as we travel through the music?

[NomoneyNohoney]

Got it!
https://www.liveabout.com/tchaikovskys- ... ure-724401

"When over 400,000 French soldiers with their 1,000-plus cannons and artillery began marching toward Moscow, Russia’s Holy Synod called its people to pray for safety, peace, and deliverance, knowing full well that Russia’s Imperial Army was only a fraction of the size of Napoleon's—and ill-equipped for battle to boot. Russians gathered in churches across the country and offered their prayers.

Tchaikovsky represents this in the overture’s opening by scoring the one-stanza Eastern Orthodox hymn, "Troparion of the Holy Cross (O Lord, Save Thy People)" for four cellos and two violas. To symbolize the increase of wartime tensions, Tchaikovsky employs a combination of pastoral and martial themes. When French forces approach closer and closer to the city and the fighting commences, the French National Anthem, "La Marsillaise," is heard more prominently, eventually overwhelming the orchestra once it appears that the French are invincible.

At this point, Russia’s Tsar calls upon the people of Russia to leave their homes and defend their country alongside their fellow soldiers. The Overture now shifts gears, with a series of Russian folk melodies coming to the fore. The French and Russian themes go back and forth, symbolizing the fighting leading up to the Battle of Borodino, the turning point in the war. Here, Tchaikovsky's score features the blasts of five cannons, followed by a series of descending melodies as the French retreat. Russia’s victory celebrations are represented by a grandiose iteration of "O Lord, Save Thy People," complete with the ringing of bells of all kinds and 11 more cannon blasts."

[mc2fool]

Got it!

And by pure serendipity I've found some things that may be of interest too...

This one gives a lot of history, describes the themes, and features, at the end of the page, a video of the finale by the Boston Pops including of the army firing the cannons across the river (blanks I'm sure!) https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/a ... lete-guide

This one also describes the musical themes -- and has a video of what the Sydney Symphony Orchestra do in the finale when they don't have cannons (!) https://www.classicfm.com/composers/tch ... hated-hit/

And this one has the most details with timings of what's playing when during the piece. https://blog.oup.com/2013/08/1812-overt ... tic-music/

[NomoneyNohoney]

Just to say, 'thanks!' Your final listing is just what I wanted, much obliged :}

[Lootman]

I love listening to the 1812 overture - my taste in classical music is basically simple ?

My housemate at Uni had a ridiculously lavish hi-fi system (Quad valve amp, 15 inch Tannoy woofer etc.)

He was more interested in his sound system than in the music. And he would love to play the 1812 to show off his bass - it would basically make you involuntarily evacuate your bowels if you were within 10 feet.