Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture

Filed Under: Classical by Dan

Mar.20, 2009

fireworks 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.

After sending correspondence to the leaders of Russia, and receiving no reply, Napoleon acted. He sent nearly 700,000 troops into Russia, armed with the best technology and tactics of that era. They had never been beaten. Russia was only able to put together a fraction of that amount, mostly untrained and without the modern equipment of the French. They were hopelessly outmatched.

It took a crazy short amount of time for the French to pass into the heart of Russia. One of their main tactics for survival (and a reason for their huge success previously) was their skill in using the land to survive. This meant that everywhere the French went, they ate the resources of the people who lived there, forcing them to move, or die. The Russians who were not killed fled to Moscow.

This continued until September 7th, 1812, when the Russians and French met at Borodino, which is 75 miles west of Moscow. That day was the only real attempt at defending themselves that the Russians were able to muster. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 soldiers died that day.

And this is where we begin our overture.

Seeing the desperate situation, and the near invincibility of the invading French, the “Russian Orthodox Patriarch of All the Russians” called on all Russians to pray for divine intervention. The Russian people responded in huge numbers, filling churches all over the nation to pray to God for deliverance and the lives of their brothers and sons. This is their desperate prayer for deliverance: