1812 Overture

Tchaikovsky predicted that the Overture he was most reluctantly writing in the summer of 1880 would be “very loud and noisy” and that there would “probably be no artistic merits in it.” He was wrong on both counts. Certainly, some of the 1812 Overture is very noisy and it is also true that, while it is one of the most popular of all Tchaikovsky’s compositions, it is not one of his most sophisticated. But, as a work written for the opening of a great exhibition in Moscow and the inauguration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, built to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon’s invading armies by Russian forces in 1812, it could scarcely be more appropriate.

The 1812 Overture begins quietly on the strings and, as long as it is concerned with the Orthodox chant “Save us, O Lord,” it remains quiet. But then things get tense as the invading army approaches, its nationality eventually identified by snatches of the Marseillaise on horns and trumpets. The immediate Russian response is not a military march but an inspiring surge of melody (derived from one of Tchaikovsky’s favourite folk songs) on the strings. This unequal confrontation happens twice before the French are repulsed by Russian canon and, after an extraordinarily long wind-up, an expansive version of “Save us, O Lord” is proclaimed on massed brass to the accompaniment of tolling bells and rushing strings. The Russian National Anthem of the day makes its triumphant appearance, among more canon and bells, just before the end.