1812 Overture

The 1812 overture complete with cannon fire was performed at the 2005 Classical Spectacular.

The 1812 Overture is an orchestral work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky commemorating the unsuccessful French invasion into Russia, and the subsequent devastating withdrawal of Napoleon's Grande Armée, an event that marked 1812 as the major turning point of the Napoleonic Wars. The work is best known for the sequence of cannon fire, which is sometimes performed, especially at outside festivals, using real cannons. Although the composition has no historical connection with the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, it is often performed in the US alongside other patriotic music.

The overture debuted in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow on August 20, 1882.

Overview

The overture is a piece of program music. It opens with the somber tones of a Russian Church chant, recalling the declaration of war announced at Church services in Russia, and is then immediately followed by a solemn chant for Russian success in the war. This announcement and public reaction was captured in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.

A theme representing marching armies follows, performed by the horns. The French national anthem La Marseillaise reflects the French victories in the war and the capture of Moscow in September 1812. The Russian folk dance theme commemorates the battle beating back Napoleon. The retreat from Moscow late in October 1812 is reflected by a diminuendo. The firing of cannon reflects the military advances toward the French borders. With the end of the conflict over, we return to the chant, this time performed by the full orchestra with a peal of bells for the victory and the liberation of Russia from French occupation. Below the cannon and the marching theme, we hear the Russian national anthem, God Save the Tsar. The Russian anthem is a counterpart to the French anthem that was heard earlier. ^[1]

In Soviet times, Tchaikovsky's work had to be edited for performances: the God Save the Tsar anthem tune in the overture had to be replaced with choir Glory from Glinka's opera Ivan Susanin.

The actual cannon blasts prescribed by Tchaikovsky are usually rendered using a bass drum. Less frequently strongly accented snare drum diminuendos can be heard. Cannon fire has been used in some cases, however, and was first laid down on a recording by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s. Subsequent similar recordings have been made by other groups, exploiting the advances in audio technology. Cannon fire is used annually in the Fourth of July during performance of the 1812 Overture by the Boston Pops during their annual concert on the shores of the Charles River and at the Australian Defence Force Academy's annual passing out parade in Canberra, Australia.

In the mid-1960s, Igor Buketoff wrote an arrangement of the "1812 Overture" with chorus. The opening segment was sung by voices as a sung chant instead of being played by cellos and violas, the children's chorus was added to the flute and English horn, and the full chorus was mixed into the winds--the entire orchestra, in fact--in the closing segment. A tribute to this song is heard on Rush's 2112 Overture.

Appearances of the tune in popular culture

(these appearances mainly refer to the part of the composition in which cannons can be heard)

• In the high score screen of a computer game Project-X.
• Used as the introduction music of a computer game named Wizkid. In the introduction the main character of the game (Wizkid) is conducting an orchestra (that is not visible) and a pair of cannons (that are visible). When the final chord of the tune is hit, the head of the Wizkid explodes and red bubbles from the head flow in all directions.
• Tune appears in a computer game Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun during a cannon stage.
• Themes from the piece are used for the background music in the "Waterloo World" level of the Tim Schafer game Psychonauts where the player enters the mind of Fred Bonaparte, a direct descedent of Napoleon, in order to prevent him from going insane.
• Made a notable appearance in the fourth season of the scifi show Farscape, where John Crichton (Ben Browder) whistles the tune with DRD named "1812".
• Used in the ending scene of Caddyshack
• Used in the opening and ending scenes of V for Vendetta (film), coupled with the demolitions of the Old Bailey and the Houses of Parliament, respectively.
• Whistled by John Keating (Robin Williams) in Dead Poets Society.
• Played as the music in the computer game Risk II.

Notes

1. ^ The composition reflects the French and Russian anthems of 1882, not 1812. From 1799 to 1815, France had no national anthem, and "La Marseillaise" was not restored until 1870. "God Save the Tsar" was not adopted as Russia's official anthem until 1833. This is probably a case of artistic license, with Tchaikovsky using musical themes that would have been familiar to his audience.