1812 Overture

The ninth piece in the concert is entitled 1812 Overture. It is an abbreviated arrangement written in 1997 by Mark Williams (see below) of the famous overture written in 1880 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (see also below).

(Warning: this is a long program notes, with much information about this iconic piece and its composer. Feel free to skim or skip through it.)

The Year 1812 Solemn Overture, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture, was written to commemorate Russia's defense of its fatherland against Napoleon's invading Grande Armée in 1812. The overture debuted in Moscow on August 20, 1882, under a tent near the then-unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a structure which also memorialized the 1812 defense of Russia. The overture was conducted by Tchaikovsky himself in 1891 at the dedication of Carnegie Hall, in what was one of the first times a major European composer visited the United States. The overture is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, ringing chimes, and brass fanfare finale. It has also become a common accompaniment to fireworks displays on the United States’ Independence Day. The 1812 Overture is one of Tchaikovsky's most popular works, along with his ballet scores to The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.

On September 7, 1812, at Borodino, 75 miles 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 little resistance. Expecting capitulation from the displaced Tsar Alexander I, the French instead found themselves in a barren and desolate city, parts of which the retreating Russian Army had burned to the ground.

Deprived of winter stores, Napoleon had to retreat. Beginning on October 19th and lasting well into December, the French Army faced several overwhelming obstacles on its long retreat: famine, typhus, frigid 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 1880, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, commissioned in 1812 by Tsar Alexander I to commemorate the so-called 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 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 in 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” (pealing bells) on cue—and 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 the previous 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.

Tchaikovsky was not fond of the piece. In fact, he 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”. Ironically, 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.

Two of the three main themes of the overture actually would not have been performed in 1812. Although La Marseillaise was chosen as the French national anthem in 1795, it was banned by Napoleon in 1805 and would not have been played during the Russian campaign. It was reinstated as the French Anthem in 1879—the year before the commission of the overture—which can explain its use by Tchaikovsky in the overture. Although the concluding theme, God Save the Tsar!, was the Russian national anthem in Tchaikovsky's time, it had not been written in 1812. There was no official Russian anthem until 1815, from which time until 1833 the anthem was Molitva russkikh, “The Prayer of the Russians,” sung to the tune of God Save the King (and which we use for “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”). The simple, plaintive Russian melody of the Eastern Orthodox hymn “O Lord, Save Thy People” which opens the overture and represents the Russian people praying for a swift conclusion to the invasion, was in use in 1812.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States. He was honored in 1884 by Emperor Alexander III, and awarded a lifetime pension.

Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant. There was scant opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time of his education and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching he received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers commonly referred to as “The Russian Five” (Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin), with whom his professional relationship was strained. Tchaikovsky's training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices with which he had been exposed from childhood. From this reconciliation he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style—a task that did not prove easy. The principles that governed melody, harmony and other fundamentals of Russian music were rather counter to those that governed Western European music; this seemed to defeat the potential for using Russian music in large-scale Western composition or for forming a composite style, and it caused personal antipathies that harmed Tchaikovsky's self-confidence. Russian culture exhibited a split personality, with its native and adopted elements having drifted apart increasingly since the time of Peter the Great. This resulted in uncertainty among artists, teachers, academics, writers, and journalists about the country's national identity—an ambiguity mirrored in Tchaikovsky's career.

Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. Contributory factors included his early separation from his mother for boarding school followed by his mother's early death, the death of his close friend and colleague Nikolai Rubinstein, and the collapse of the one enduring relationship of his adult life, which was his 13-year association with the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck who was his patron even though she forbade that they actually met each other. Tchaikovsky’s homosexuality, which he kept private, has traditionally also been considered a major factor in his depression, though some musicologists now downplay its importance. Tchaikovsky's sudden death at the age of 53 is generally ascribed to cholera; there is an ongoing debate as to whether cholera was indeed the cause of death, and whether his death was accidental or self-inflicted. While his music has remained popular among audiences, critical opinions were initially mixed. Some Russians did not feel it was sufficiently representative of native musical values and expressed suspicion because Western Europeans accepted the music for its Western elements. In an apparent reinforcement of the latter claim, some Europeans lauded Tchaikovsky for offering music more substantive than base exoticism and said he transcended stereotypes of Russian classical music. Others dismissed Tchaikovsky's music as “lacking in elevated thought,” according to longtime New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg, and derided its formal workings as deficient because they did not stringently follow Western principles.

The arrangement we are playing includes all of the themes of the original overture, but eliminates several repetitions and lengthy developments of the original material, reducing the length of the piece from almost 15 minutes to just over 7 minutes. Obviously, it also re-scores the music for the instruments of the concert band rather than symphony orchestra.

Arranger Mark Williams (1956 – 2008) was one of the premier composers for school bands and orchestras. Co-author of the Accent on Achievement Band Method, he has over 200 published works to his credit. As a clinician and guest conductor, he traveled to 34 states, five Canadian provinces, and Australia.

Mark was born in Chicago and grew up in Spokane, Washington. He held Bachelor of Arts in Education and Master of Education degrees from Eastern Washington University. He taught music in the Spokane area for many years, specializing in elementary band. Renowned for his compositions for band and orchestra, Mr. Williams earned numerous awards including the Western International Band Clinic’s Gralia Competition and several ASCAP Special Awards. In addition to his writing and travel schedule, Mark performed regularly on all woodwinds and served as Conductor and Artistic Director for the Spokane British Brass Band.

The music for 1812 Overture was provided for the band by Cheri Murchie.