Festive Overture, "The Year 1812", Op.49
In June 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte’s undefeated Grande Armée crossed the Russian border and marched on Moscow. The city fell, but the Russian imperial army under Prince Mikhail Kutuzov had shattered the impetus of the advance at Borodino on 26 August and, as the Russian winter drew in, forced Napoleon into a long and devastating retreat.
68 years later, plans were being laid in Moscow for the inauguration of a new cathedral, built over a period of 40 years to commemorate Russia’s deliverance in 1812. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was to be consecrated on the 70th anniversary of Borodino in the presence of Tzar Alexander II. The plans included military bands and artillery salutes, massed singing, and of course the first peal of the Cathedral’s bells. And this was just one of three upcoming state occasions which the composer Nikolai Rubenstein suggested as lucrative opportunities for his cash-strapped colleague Peter Tchaikovsky. Rubinstein had been appointed Music Director of the 1881 Moscow Exhibition of Industry, and he suggested that Tchaikovsky write either "(1) an overture to open the exhibition, or (2) an overture for the Tzar’s Silver Jubilee, or (3) a cantata, with a hint of Orthodox church music, for the opening of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour". "Of course" he added, "you’ll be paid". Tchaikovsky did not exactly jump at the chance – " I need encouragement, prescribed dates…and 100 Rouble notes (a lot), coming sooner rather than later" he wrote back. But after his initial misgivings, he decided to combine two of Rubinstein’s suggestions and write a festive overture for the consecration of the cathedral.
Despite his customary complaints about lack of inspiration, the project seems to have seized Tchaikovsky’s imagination. Once he’d decided on the subject and purpose of the piece, his musical material was virtually ready-made – Russian and French national hymns, a dramatic battle sequence (ideas he’d lifted shamelessly from Beethoven’s "Wellington’s Victory" symphony of 1813), and of course the military bands, cathedral bells and cannon. Throwing in a Russian folksong, "U Varot" and a theme from his own opera "The Voyevoda" he wrote the piece in less than five weeks in October and November 1880. Then, four months later, the Tzar was assassinated and the consecration of the Cathedral was postponed indefinitely. Tchaikovsky now had a Festive Overture without a festival, and after some unenthusiastic attempts to interest the conductor Napravnik it had to wait until 20 August 1882 for its premiere – in an all–Tchaikovsky concert at the Moscow Exhibition, which had itself been postponed for a year. "Capriccio Italien" was also on the programme.
Tchaikovsky would have been puzzled and deeply hurt had he known that "1812" would become his most popular single work. "I don’t think it has any serious merits" he’d told Napravnik. But Tchaikovsky was notoriously self-critical, and despite his shy, nervous nature, he could "do" brilliant orchestral spectacle like no other composer. Rubinstein had realised this when he suggested the commission, and although "1812" is something of a "patchwork", Tchaikovsky’s innate sense of drama makes it utterly effective. From the opening, chant-like statement of the Russian imperial anthem " God Save the Tzar", through the long, stormy battle-sequence and the clash of the two national anthems, "1812" sweeps the listener on towards one of the most spectacular and uninhibited celebrations in all music. The bells peal, the cannon roar and Russia is saved in a blaze of sheer, glorious sound.
R.G. Bratby, 2001
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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