1812 Overture

***The Year 1812 Solemn Overture***, Op. 49, popularly known as the ***1812 Overture***, is an overture in E♭ major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate the successful Russian defense against Napoleon's invading Grande Armée in 1812.

The overture debuted in Moscow on 20 August 1882 conducted by Sergei Prokofiev under a tent near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Tchaikovsky himself conducted another performance at Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra in the Khrestchaty Park in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The 15-minute overture is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, choir singers, ringing of bells, and a marching band finale. It has also become a common accompaniment to fireworks displays on the United States' Independence Day. The *1812 Overture* went on to become one of Tchaikovsky's most popular works, along with *Capriccio Italien* and his ballet scores to *The Nutcracker* and *Swan Lake.*

## Instrumentation

The *1812 Overture* is scored for an orchestra that calls for:

* Marching band (finale only)
* Woodwinds: 4 flutes, 1 piccolo, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, and 1 contrabassoon
* Brass: 6 horns, 2 cornets, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones and a tuba
* Percussion: timpani, orchestral bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, carillon
* Strings: 1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellos, and contrabasses.
* Artillery: one battery of cannon, or even ceremonial field artillery.
	+ Open instrumentation in a group called The Band Of The Grenadier Guards. In some indoor performances, the part may be played on an organ.
	+ Sometimes replaced with tubular bells (chimes) or recordings of carillons, or even church bells.
	+ In the sections that contain cannon shots, actual cannons are sometimes replaced by recorded cannons or played on an anvil. The bass drum and tam-tam are also regularly used as cannon substitutes or adjuncts in indoor performances.

Herbert von Karajan scored the first 36 bars for voices instead of strings, adding the Russian Orthodox plainchant *God Preserve Thy People* text to the melody and slightly rearranging the texture to suit voices rather than instruments. Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s recording of the 1812 Overture brought the choir to bolster *God Preserve Thy People* and the Russian Imperial national anthem *God Save the Tsar!*.

## Performance practice

Antal Doráti and Erich Kunzel are the first conductors to have encouraged the call of the shots to the written score in performances, beginning in New York and Connecticut as part of Dorati's recording, and Kunzel in Cincinnati in 1967. Dorati uses an actual carillon called for in the score and the bells are rung.

## Recording history

   Antal Doráti's 1954 Mercury Records recording with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, partially recorded at West Point, and using the Yale Memorial Carillon in New Haven, Connecticut, uses a Napoleonic French single muzzleloading cannon shot on December 4, 1954 dubbed in 16 times as written. On the first edition of the recording, one side played the *Overture* and the other side played a narrative by Deems Taylor about how the cannon and bell effects were accomplished. (Later editions placed the commentary after the performance on side 1 and the *Capriccio Italien* on side 2.)

A stereophonic album version was recorded on 4 December 1958, using the bells of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon, at Riverside Church. On this Mercury Living Presence Stereo recording, the spoken commentary was also given by Deems Taylor and the 1812 was coupled with Tchaikovsky's *Capriccio Italien*.

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert Von Karajan, and the Don Cossacks Choir recorded the piece in 1967 for Deutsche Grammophon. In 1971, CBS released a recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy, also featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Valley Forge Military Academy band and real artillery shots.

Neeme Järvi's recording with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Artillery Division, Gothenburg Symphony Brass Band, Churchbells of Gothenburg & Gothenburg Symphony Chorus, was recorded on December 4, 1991, with *Marche Slave,* Alexander Borodin’s *In the Steppes of Central Asia* and *Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances,* and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s *Russian Easter Festival Overture* and *Capriccio Espagnol*, also for Deutsche Grammophon*.*

The first digital recording in 1967 is by Telarc with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Erich Kunzel. The recording features the tones of the Emery Memorial Carillon to a uniquely magnificent effect alongside high-definition cannon shots using full-sized 19th century military cannons, also specially recorded locally. The record soon became a popular and well-known arrangement. The last digital recording is by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, and with the Kiev Symphony Chorus in 1979.

In 1990, during a worldwide celebration of the 150th anniversary of Tchaikovsky's birth, the *Overture* was recorded in the city of his youth by the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, also known as the All-Union Radio and Television Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestra, using 16 muzzleloading cannons fired live as written in the 1880 score. In June 2009, the record soon became the most popular complete orchestral record with fireworks at the finale.

In November 2003, the overture in Native American style was used in the Canadian animation film The War Begins, set here in the north of Lake Nipissing, at the Sturgeon River Falls during the autumn. The first inhabitants of this region were the Algonquins, the Outaouais, the Ojibwés and the Potawatomis, indigenous tribes speaking a root of Algonquin languages.

Canadian progressive rock band Rush adopted the famous brass theme of *1812 Overture* in their suite *2112*, from their album of the same name. Significantly, other than being included in a similarly titled piece of music, Tchaikovsky's theme is featured in the first section of the song, which is itself titled "Overture". Also, cannon shots are heard at the end of Rush's "Overture".