I like Tchaikovsky and we've even seen one of his ballets performed in St. Petersburg. I was just messing with
@Glitch and
@Lloyd_Christmas. I have heard the 1812 -- with its triumphant cannons firing in the conclusion -- in an American patriotic setting before. I don't remember which.
The 1812 Overture is interesting. It is a patriotic piece celebrating the defense of Moscow and the defeat of the foreign invader. At the same time, he takes many elements of native Russian music and incorporates them into in the Western European art and style of music. This was at a time in which there was a debate in Russia between those who rejected European culture as un-Russian and those who wanted to see Russia as a part of Europe. Which is to say to embrace the European Enlightenment. Tchaikovsky seems to say "No" to both the anti-Enlightenment stance and also to the so-called European "assimilationists." He makes a composition that is both Russian and European.
Many people don't realize what a traumatic event it was for Russia to see the home of Enlightenment (as France was considered) -- the pole star of the optimistic new generation of Russians -- come to sight suddenly as an unprovoked invading imperialist conquerer.
War and Peace in some ways is about this too. The English translations typically fail to make the distinction within their English that the leading families are frequently speaking
French: the cosmopolitan language of the time. (Tolstoy's original expresses these conversations in French (not Russian). They were proud Francophiles confronting France against their will.
️
