Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture

Classical Music / Orchestral 

The Year 1812, festival overture in E-flat major, Op. 49

Popularly known as the 1812 Overture,  The Year 1812, festival overture in E-flat, Op. 49, is an overture written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate Russia's defence of its motherland against Napoleon's invading Grand Army in 1812.

The overture was first performed on August 20, 1882, on an all-Tchaikovsky program at the Art and Industrial Exhibition, in Moscow, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani under a tent near the then-unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, also memorializing the 1812 defense of Russia. 

 

It was conducted by Tchaikovsky himself in 1891 at the dedication of Carnegie Hall, in what became the first time a major European composer visited the United States.




1812 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.  It went on to become one of Tchaikovsky's most popular works, along with his ballet scores: The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker.

 

Brief history of the famous 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky

 

Nikolay Rubinstein, head of the music section in connection with an exhibition of industry and the arts planned for 1881, commissioned from Tchaikovsky an overture which would open the exhibition. Tchaikovsky was reluctant: it was not the kind of job that attracted him, but he could not refuse Rubinstein's request. The composer only worked on it in October 1880, and finished it in less than a week, apart from the orchestration. He did not cherish any illusion of its true worth, as he told his patroness  Madame Nadezhda von Meck, "It will be very loud and noisy. I wrote it without much warmth and therefore there will probably be no artistic merit in it." By this time, however, Tchaikovsky's music was famous worldwide.

 

It's common knowledge that Overture 1812 is one of Tchaikovsky's most popular works.     

Trivia:

 
1812 Overture is personally emotional and memorable: In celebrating 40 years of Sydney Festival: Symphony in the Domain 2016, 16th January, the finale was performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and our Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Symphony Chorus. Some of us from SPC Festival Chorus sung a special 'Happy Birthday' rendition and a small choral part of the overture itself.     

Suggested Listening:

Tchaikovsky : Overture 1812 (Full, Choral) (Sure, best version ever) - Ashkenazy. Uploaded by greatclassicrecords. Accessed August 20, 2016.

Flashmob of Tchaikovsky's Overture 1812 - July 4th fireworks from Spain's Societat Musical d'Algemesi. Accessed August 20, 2018. 

Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture (Full with Cannons). Youtube, uploaded by avrilfan2213. Accessed August 20, 2016. 

Video Credit: 

 

Tchaikovsky: Ouverture 1812 | Prinsengrachtconcert 2013, conducted by Antonio Pappano. Youtube, uploaded by AVROTROS Klassiek. Accessed August 20, 2016.

Resources:

1812 Overture. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed August 20, 2016.  

 

Mountfield, David. TCHAIKOVSKY: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840-1893.  New Jersey, U.S.: Chartwell Books, Inc. (1990).

The History of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. ThoughtCo.  

 

 

(c) August 2010. Updated August 20, 2016. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Dvorak Piano Quintet No. 2

Classical Music / Piano Quintet

Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, B. 155, is a quintet for piano, 2 violins, viola, and cello. It was composed between August 18 and October 8, 1887, and was premiered in Prague on January 6, 1888. The quintet is acknowledged as one of the masterpieces in the form, along with those of Schumann, Brahms and Shostakovich.

 The work was actually composed as the result of the composer’s attempt to revise an earlier work, Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 5.  Dvořák was dissatisfied with the Op. 5 quintet and destroyed the manuscript not long after its premiere. Fifteen years later, he reconsidered and retrieved a copy of the score from a friend and started making revisions. However, he decided that rather than submitting the revised work for publication, he would compose an entirely new work. The new quintet is a mixture of Dvořák's personal form of expressive lyricism as well as a utilization of elements from Czech folk music. Characteristically those elements include styles and forms of song and dance, but not actual folk tunes; Dvořák created original melodies in the authentic folk style.




The music has four movements, with a duration of approximately 40 minutes.

1. Allegro, ma non tanto
2. Dumka: Andante con moto
3. Scherzo (Furiant): molto vivace
4. Finale: Allegro.

The first movement opens quietly with lyrical cello theme over piano accompaniment which is followed by a series of elaborate transformations. The viola introduces the second subject which is another lyrical melody, but much busier than the cello's stately line. Both themes are developed extensively by the first and second violins and the movement closes with a free recapitulation and an exuberant coda.

The second movement is labeled Dumka which is a form that Dvořák famously used in his Dumky piano trio and features a melancholy theme on the piano separated by fast, happy interludes. It follows the pattern ABACABA where A, in F♯ minor, is the slow elegiac refrain on piano with variations, B is a bright D major section on violins and C is a quick and vigorous section derived from the opening refrain. Each time the Dumka (A) section returns its texture is enriched.

The third movement is marked as a Furiant which is a fast Bohemian folk dance. The cello and viola alternate a rhythmic pizzicato underneath the main tune of the first violin. The slower trio section of the scherzo is also derived from the furiant theme, with the piano and violin alternating between the main melodies. The fast Bohemian folk dance returns and the movement finishes aggressively, setting up for the polka in the last movement.

The Finale is light-hearted and spirited. The second violin leads the theme into a fugue in the development section. In the coda, Dvořák writes tranquillo for a chorale-like section, which features the theme of the movement this time in augmentation and played pianissimo, before the pace quickens with an accelerando, and the quintet rushes to the finish.

Video Credit:

Dvorak Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81, Rubinstein, Guarneri Quartet, 1971.  Ian Altman. Accessed October 9, 2016.   


Resource:

Piano Quintet No. 2 (Dvorak). en.wikipedia.org. 


(c) August 2016. Tel.  Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.