Hi guys, today’s classical music is 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky. There are numerous reworks of this song because the original is about 14 minutes long! Also, composers reworked so that the piece can be played by band without strings. Our band played 1812 overture which was shortened to 8 minutes long. In the rework, it took out string soli and replaced them with brass section’s soli. However, I recommend you guys to listen to the original, full 14 minutes long.
I think that every song illustrates and describes certain pictures. 1812 overture was composed to honor and describe the battle scene in 1812- Patriotic War of 1812. In this battle, Russian had successfully stopped Napoleon’s army from invading to Russia.
The piece starts peacefully describing the beautiful scenery of Russia. Then, trumpet announces the arrival of the French army. The strings and brass section soon describes the battle scene. The major battle occurs as percussion comes in with base drum representing cannon. (I heard that in military, when they play this music, they actually fire shots from cannon). After the climax of the battle, trombone and trumpet glorifies their victory over the French as French starts retreating.
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