The Well-Tempered Ear
Should the 1812 Overture be played this Fourth of July?
9 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear recently noticed that the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has once again scheduled the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky (below) as part of the finale of its Fourth of July concert on the evening of July 6, 2022.
The performance is part of this summer’s FREE Concerts on the Square (COS) by the WCO that run on six consecutive Wednesday nights from June 29 through Aug. 3. Concerts start at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capitol Square in downtown Madison, and will be conducted by Andrew Sewell.
For more information about the series and individual performers and programs, go to: https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/concerts-on-the-square
An asterisk says programs are subject to change.
Which got The Ear to thinking: Should Tchaikovsky’s perennial favorite, the flashy and loud 1812 Overture, be played again this year?
It is a tradition that was started on Independence Day in 1974 by Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops, according to reputable sources.
But this year might be a very different case because of a quandary that might cause organizers, including PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth,” to rethink the program.
It is a choice that will confront many musical groups across the U.S., given the current unprovoked brutality and and war crimes being committed by Russia against Ukraine.
After all, many music groups, including the Metropolitan Opera, have already banned Russian performers who support Russian President Vladimir Putin and his unjustified war in Ukraine (below).
So here’s the question: Is it appropriate to play a favorite work celebrating a Russian military victory while Ukraine, the United States and Western allies, including NATO, are desperately trying to defeat Russian forces?
As you may recall, the overture was inspired by Russia’s victory over the invading forces of Napoleon who was attempting go conquer Russia. Like Hitler and the Nazis, Napoleon failed and the Russians prevailed. That is why, in the work, you hear the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” overcome by the chimes and cannons of the Russian victory hymn. (There was no Russian national anthem until 1815.)
Here is a link to more background in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture
Will the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra or other orchestras as well as radio and TV stations around the U.S. find a substitute piece? Perhaps it could be the Ukrainian national anthem that is performed (as in the BBC Proms concert in the YouTube video at the bottom and as many other orchestras around the world, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and John DeMain, have done).
What else could the WCO and other groups play — especially since Sousa marches are already usually featured on The Fourth?
Do you have a suggestion?
The Ear will be interested to see how the quandary is solved — with explanations and excuses, or with alternative music?
Meanwhile, as comedian Stephen Colbert likes to say: What do you think?
Should the “1812 Overture” be played on this Fourth of July?
Why?
Or why not?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #ACapitolFourth, #AdolfHitler, #AndrewSewell, #ArthurFiedler, #AudienceFavorite, #BBCProms, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonPops, #CapitolSquare, #ChamberOrchestra, #ConcertsontheSquare, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FourthofJuly, #FreeConcert, #IndependenceDay, #JacobStockinger, #JohnDeMain, #July4, #LaMarseillaise, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MetropolitanOpera, #NapoleonicWars, #NationalAnthem, #NaziGermany, #NorthAtlanticTreatyOrganization, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #RadioStation, #SocialMedia, #StephenColbert, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #TheMet, #TheU.S., #TVstation, #UnitedStates, #VladimirPutin, #WarCrimes, #WebPage, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, 1812 Overture, @1812Overture, A Capitol Fourth, Allies, alternative, America, American, Andrew Sewell, Arthur Fiedler, Arts, asterisk, audience, ban, BBC, BBC Proms, blog, Blog post, Boston Pops, brutal, brutality, cannons, Capitol, Capitol Square, celebrate, chamber orchestra, chimes, choice, Classical music, comedian, commit, composer, Concert, Concerts on the Square, conductor, confront, COS, downtown, evening, excuse, explanation, Facebook, Facebook post, favorite, finale, flashy, force, Fourth of July, France, free concert, French, Germany, group, help, Hitler, home website, hymn, Independence Day, individual, information, inspire, invasion, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, John Philip Sousa, July 4, justice, La Marseillaise, link, loud, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, march, Metropolitan Opera, military, Music, Napoleon, Napoleonic Wars, national anthem, NATO, Nazi, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Orchestra, organizer, PBS, perennial, performance, performer, performers, piece, play, President, program, Putin, quandary, Radio, radio station, reputable, reputation, rethink, Russia, Russian, say, schedule, series, share, singer, social media, solve, source, Sousa, Stephen Colbert, suggestion, support, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, Television, The Ear, the Internet, the Met, think, tradition, TV, TV station, U, U.S., Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, unjust, unjustifiable, victory, video, war, war crimes, WCO, web, Website, Western, why, why not, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world, World War II, YouTube
Classical music: Happy Bastille Day! But instead of militarism, let’s celebrate the holiday with revolutionary French music by a revolutionary French composer. What French music would you choose?
3 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is July 14, known in the U.S. as Bastille Day.
That is the day in 1789 when the infamous Bastille Prison in Paris was stormed by the masses and political prisoners were freed – marking the beginning of the French Revolution.
The tradition is to play “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem that grew out of the revolution. Usually there is a military side to the arrangement of the anthem and the performance of it.
After all, it was a Bastille Day parade that even inspired President Trump to stage his egotistical “Salute to America” – satirically dubbed “Tanksgiving” — on the Fourth of July this year in Washington, D.C..
But The Ear has had quite enough of militarism and of the lying draft dodger who became commander-in-chief using patriotism to camouflage his un-American actions and ideas.
With no disrespect to those who served or are serving in the armed forces, there are many ways besides the military to be patriotic and even revolutionary.
So this year The Ear is choosing something subtle and less martial to mark the day.
It is a performance of “Feux d’artifice” (Fireworks), a prelude for solo piano by Claude Debussy (below), who described himself – in an age where German and Italian music ruled – simply as a “French musician.” But make no mistake: Debussy, who was rejected for admission to the Paris Conservatory, was indeed a revolutionary figure in music history for his innovations in harmony and form.
(Perhaps this past season, you heard Marc-André Hamelin give an astoundingly virtuosic performance of “Fireworks” as an encore after his Sunday afternoon concerto performances with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.)
Listen carefully and at the very end you will hear a subtle reference to the Marseillaise that adds the right touch to the pyrotechnical celebration of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”
Added to that, the fiery performance in the YouTube video at the bottom is by Robert Casadesus, a deservedly famous French pianist.
Finally, The Ear thinks you can celebrate Bastille Day with any number of French composers and French works, many of which remain neglected and underperformed. (The Ear is particularly partial to the music of Gabriel Faure, below, who taught Maurice Ravel.)
Who is your favorite French composer?
What is your favorite French piece of classical music?
Leave a comment with, if possible, a YouTube link.
Happy Bastille Day!!
Tags: #ArmedForces, #BastilleDay, #BastillePrison, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ClaudeDebussy, #DraftDodger, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Feuxd'artifice, #FourthofJuly, #FrenchRevolution, #GabrielFaure, #GermanMusic, #HolidayTradition, #ItalianMusic, #July14, #LaMarseillaise, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #Marc-AndréHamelin, #MauriceRavel, #MusicHistory, #NationalAnthem, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedMusic, #NeglectedWorks, #ParisConservatory, #ParisFrance, #PatrioticMusic, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoPrelude, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #PresidentTrump, #RedWhiteandBlue, #RobertCasadesus, #SalutetoAmerica, #SoloPiano, #SoloPianoMusic, #Tanksgiving, #UnitedStates, #WashingtonD.C., #YouTubevideo, action, admission, age, armed forces, Arts, audience, Bastille Day, Bastille prison, beginning, blog, blue, camouflage, celebrate, celebration, Claude Debussy, commander-in-chief, composer, Concert, concerto, day, describe, display, disrespect, Donald Trump, draft, ego, egotistical, equality, Facebook, famous, fiery, fight planes, Fireworks, form, forward, Fourth of July, France, fraternity, free, freed, French, French Revolution, Gabriel Fauré, German, happy', harmony, History, Holiday, idea, Independence Day, infamous, innovation, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, July 14, La Marseillaise, liberty, lies, like, link, lying, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marc-André Hamelin, mark, martial, masses, Maurice Ravel, military, Music, national, national anthem, nationalism, neglected, Orchestra, parade, Paris, Paris Conservatory, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, piano prelude, political, political prisoners, President Trump, prison, prisoner, pyrotechnical, reader, red, reject, revolution, revolutionary, Robert Casadesus, Salute to America, serve, share, solo piano, storm, subscriber, Sunday, tag, tanks, tradition, tricolor, U.S., un-American, United States, US, virtuosic, viruosity, Washington D.C., white, Wisconsin, work, works, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ann Boyer on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 