# Is 1812 Overture played as much in Europe/elsewhere as it is in USA?



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

My son's orchestra will be playing it in a couple weeks and I've already heard it 2x locally this year so just wondering. I think its popularity in the US has something to do with live gunfire during concerts.

I have the feeling they don't play it so much in France.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Is it really played that much in America? I can only recall ever having heard it performed twice in my area my whole life, and both were student orchestra performances. I don't recall my local symphony ever performing it. 
It's a favorite on Independence Day during big fireworks shows, but not as popular in the concert halls.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

It is popular in America, but the strange thing is that Tchaikovsky wrote it to celebrate Russian nationalism. It has nothing to do with the American War of 1812. So the Americans playing it on Independence Day really makes no sense. Other, than the fact that cannons figure greatly in the finale of the piece, and that the inclusion of large ordinance firepower makes anything better, at least in the American psyche. Wow that does sound bad, doesn't it?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Just like Gordontrek says, hardly ever played in my country.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

To an American, a bigger gun is a better gun. Obvious, if you think about it.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Antiquarian said:


> It is popular in America, but the strange thing is that Tchaikovsky wrote it to celebrate Russian nationalism. It has nothing to do with the American War of 1812. So the Americans playing it on Independence Day really makes no sense. Other, than the fact that cannons figure greatly in the finale of the piece, and that the inclusion of large ordinance firepower makes anything better, at least in the American psyche. Wow that does sound bad, doesn't it?


I have never heard anyone try to make a connection between 1812 Overture and the U.S./Britain War of 1812. As far as can be determined, it is a staple because it can literally be played with cannons, and if you're really ambitious, even with fireworks.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

"I would only be interested in hearing this piece again, if everyone in America fired their arsenal simultaneously as directed."


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra plays it every year about three nights in a row at the Henry Ford Greenfield Village fireworks displays around the 4th of July. They do it with live canon blasts.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

Gordontrek said:


> I have never heard anyone try to make a connection between 1812 Overture and the U.S./Britain War of 1812.


And neither have I. I just find it odd that a piece of music promoting Russian nationalism is a concert centrepiece in celebrating American patriotism. It's akin to Russia playing _Stars and Stripes Forever_ on Victory Day. But perhaps I'm being too controversial here. Apologies all around.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Boston plays it to accompany its 4th of July fireworks.

America has "Americanized" European patriotic music in strange ways. Elgar's _Pomp and Circumstance March #1_, sung in Britain as "Land of Hope and Glory," is known in America as "the graduation song, "to which nearly every high school and college student has marched down the aisle at commencement. This must be totally baffling to the English.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Boston plays it to accompany its 4th of July fireworks.
> 
> America has "Americanized" European patriotic music in strange ways. Elgar's _Pomp and Circumstance March #1_, sung in Britain as "Land of Hope and Glory," is known in America as "the graduation song, "to which nearly every high school and college student has marched down the aisle at commencement. This must be totally baffling to the English.


I never knew that about the use of Elgar's music in the USA
Along with 1812 Overture it ranks as one of the few pieces that I have filed under the "never want to listen to again" heading


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

I always find it hilarious that Americans think a piece that prominently features the Russian national anthem is the most appropriate thing for the Fourth of July. But I'm a child of the Cold War; now cozying up to Russia is in vogue so maybe they were just prescient.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Haydn man said:


> I never knew that about the use of Elgar's music in the USA
> Along with 1812 Overture it ranks as one of the few pieces that I have filed under the "never want to listen to again" heading


:lol: I understand. I actually feel that way about our national anthem, as much for its warlike text as for its tune, which started life as a pub song. As national anthems go, I even prefer "God Save the Tsar" which Tchaikovsky used at the end of his 1812.

I haven't become inured to _Pomp & Circumstance_, though, since my last graduation happened many decades ago. Elgar knew he had a great tune there, and over here millions of proud parents agree. I do seem to have a soft spot for English patriotic tunes; Parry's _Jerusalem_, with its poem by Blake about building Jerusalem in England's pleasant pastures, is one of the great tunes of all time, the mere mention of which brings a lump to my throat, and its imagery evokes a more innocent, idealistic time before the dark satanic mills went multinational.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

gardibolt said:


> I always find it hilarious that Americans think a piece that prominently features the Russian national anthem is the most appropriate thing for the Fourth of July. But I'm a child of the Cold War; *now cozying up to Russia is in vogue* so maybe they were just prescient.


Not quite.


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