Monday, February 3, 2020

Monday Music "1812 Overture" and performed by many Bands and movies and events

I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", it is a facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines and prepare yourself.


he Year 1812 Solemn Overture, festival overture in E major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture, is a concert overture written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate the successful Russian defence against Napoleon's invading Grande Armée in 1812.
The overture debuted in Moscow on August 20, 1882, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani under a tent near the then-unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which also memorialized the 1812 defence of Russia. Tchaikovsky himself conducted another performance at the dedication of Carnegie Hall in New York City. That was one of the first times a major European composer visited the United States.
The 15 minute overture is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, ringing chimes, and brass fanfare 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 his ballet scores to The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.


On September 7, 1812, at Borodino, 120 km (75 mi) west of Moscow, Napoleon's forces met those of General Mikhail Kutuzov in a concerted stand made by Russia against the seemingly invincible French Army. The Battle of Borodino saw casualties estimated as high as 100,000 and the French were masters of the field. It was, however, ultimately a pyrrhic victory for the French invasion.
With resources depleted and supply lines overextended, Napoleon's weakened forces moved into Moscow, which they occupied with little resistance. Expecting capitulation from the displaced Tsar Alexander I, the French instead found themselves in a barren and desolate city, parts of which the retreating Russian Army had burned to the ground.
Deprived of winter stores, Napoleon had to retreat. Beginning on October 19 and lasting well into December, the French Army faced several overwhelming obstacles on its long retreat: famine, typhus, frigid temperatures, harassing cossacks, and Russian forces barring the way out of the country. Abandoned by Napoleon in November, the Grande Armée was reduced to one-tenth of its original size by the time it reached Poland and relative safety.  Stalin did the same thing to the Germans, he employed a "scorched" Earth policies against the Germans as the Soviet Army retreated, he was trading space for time and waiting for "General Winter" to make an appearance and that really afected the Germans because they were still a "Summer Army".  Hitler refused to allow greatcoats and other gear to show up at the frint because it promoted "Defeatism". 
Prince Albert Hall
The earliest traceable orchestral recording, which does not include the shots and features no percussion apart from bells, was by the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra conducted by Landon Ronald, was issued by His Master’s Voice on three 12-inch 78rpm sides in 1916. A Royal Opera Orchestra recording of about the same time similarly contains no shots at all.
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 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 version was recorded on April 5, 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. Later editions coupled the 1812 Overture with Dorati's recording of Beethoven's Wellington's Victory, which featured the London Symphony Orchestra and real cannon.
Kenneth Alwyn's early stereo recording for Decca used a recording of slowed-down gunfire instead of cannon fire. Robert Sharples and the London Festival Orchestra released a recording in 1963, later remastered in quadrophony by Decca.


The Black Dyke Band has recorded a brass band arrangement of the piece. This recording on their album Symphonic Brass includes the cannon shots as originally written.
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. British rock drummer Cozy Powell sampled the overture at the end of the track "Over The Top" in his eponymous 1979 studio album. The first digital recording occurred in 1979 by Telarc of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. High-definition cannon shots using full-sized 19th century military cannons were also recorded. In addition to becoming Telarc's best-selling record and establishing them as a company, the record soon became a popular and well-known method for testing hifi record-playing equipment and related setups. Only the best and most fine-tuned allowed the cannon shots to be played properly (an accompanying warning for users not to destroy their audio equipment was included with the record). In 1989, the Swingle Singers recorded an a cappella version of the overture as part of an album whose title is 1812.
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 Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra using 16 muzzleloading cannons fired live as written in the 1880 score. That recording was done within earshot of the composer's grave. The festival was televised for the first time in USA on March 9, 1991. The Texan band "The Invincible Czars" released a rock version of 1812 Overture for the bicentennial of the Battle of Borodino in September 2012. The band had already debuted their arrangement of the piece at the 20th annual OK Mozart classical music festival at Bartlesville, Oklahoma, with professional orchestra musicians, in June 2009, complete with fireworks at the finale.

The riff of the Overture's final movement is guitar-sampled by the rock group Rush in the "Overture" suite of their cult-favorite song 2112, from the album of the same name. Of note is that 2112 occurs exactly 300 years after the Overture's date in its title.
The overture is the title screen music for the 2000 PC game Risk II. It is also the in-game music of the 1982 video game Astro Chase.
In the sci-fi fantasy show Farscape, John Crichton converts a DRD to belt out the overture in order to ground him and help maintain his focus. He even paints the French flag on the droid and labels it "1812".
The piece is featured a couple of times throughout the 1994 film Blown Away starring Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones, most notably in one of the closing scenes of the movie where Jim Dove's fiancée is performing the song as part of an orchestra.
The piece is featured prominently in the film V for Vendetta.

In the popular stop-motion animated sketch comedy Robot Chicken, the piece was used for a sketch titled "Ode to the Nut Shot" from the second ever episode, "Nutcracker Sweet".
The melody of Dan Fogelberg's top ten hit "Same Old Lang Syne" is drawn from the distinctive leitmotif that represents the Russian forces in the piece.
In Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, the RYNO V weapon plays the 1812 Overture while firing.
In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, part of the overture's finale plays when the Claptrap character enters Pirate Ship Mode.
Tommy Wiseau's 2015 sitcom The Neighbors uses the overture as its intro theme.
The Band of the Fighting Irish perform the song at the end of the 3rd quarter during Notre Dame Football games.
The riff of The Move's 1966 hit single "Night of Fear" was adapted from 1812 Overture.
In the film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, a piece similar to this is played, but is called "1812 Ofarture", in which the piece is played with sounds of whoopee cushions, bloating, nose picking, mucus shooting, and flatulence.

1 comment:

  1. I always liked the version that used actual cannons... :-)

    ReplyDelete

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