The one major goal we have here at The Reviewist is to help people to find, and appreciate, new music. Maybe something they haven’t experienced before. For 1812 Overture (officially called Festive Overture: 1812, Op. 49) this may be slightly difficult, as most of you have heard it. Many times actually…the problem though, is that you heard it on the 4th of July, all drunkered up and not paying attention to a single thing (except Uncle Jeb and his cavalier attitude towards explosives and alcohol). We think that a little history is in order here, because the piece is so stunningly beautiful when you know what is going on. Many classical composers were master story tellers…they just didn’t use words. As a matter of fact, there are so many pieces of classical music that tell whole stories! Once you know the stories, though, you get hooked. So, proceed with caution…or heaven forbid you might ACTUALLY like the classical music you have only claimed to like in the past.
One note before we begin: We are going to tell you the story from the perspective from which it was composed and initially performed. There are probably some slight historical inaccuracies, but that is not the point. The point is what this meant to the people of Russia, whose perspective we will share on this journey.
Before the French offensive against Russia, Napoleon had pretty much trashed every nation in Europe (or at the least had a treaty favorable to France with them). This was causing difficulties in Russia, as they were low in industry, but had huge amounts of raw resources…but the treaties did not allow them to trade. This brought Russia to its knees, and soon their economy buckled. Faced with these facts it became clear to the leadership of the country that their options were:
1. Die because of an overtly sinister and unfair treaty, or
2. Die fighting their way out of it. They decided to fight, and broke off from the “union” of the time.
