1812 Overture, Op. 49

Composer: TCHAIKOVSKY, Peter Ilyich
  • Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write this work for the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The Cathedral was dedicated in celebration of Russia’s victory against French invaders during the Napoleonic Wars, so Tchaikovsky wrote his overture as a program work about Napoleon’s defeat in 1812.1
    • This page offers a summary of the overture’s programmatic content. 
  • The 1812 Overture premiered on August 20, 1882 at the All-Russia Art & Industry Exhibition in Moscow. The conductor was Ippolit Altani.2
  • The overture’s opening melody is taken from Russian liturgical music. The overture also contains quotations from both the French and Russian national anthems.3
    • The presence of the Russian anthem, God Save the Tsar (Bozhe, Tsaria Khrani) so offended the Soviet authorities that in the 1961 Soviet edition of the 1812 Overture, the melody was removed and replaced with a tune from Glinka’s Life for the Tsar (frankly, not sure how that’s less Tsarist)4

Sources

  1. “1812 Overture, Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky,” Waterloo 200 (2020), accessed May 19, 2021, https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/1812-overture-pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky/.
  2. “1812 Overture, Op. 49 (Tchaikovsky, Peter Illych),” IMSLP, accessed May 14, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/1812_Overture,_Op.49_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr).
  3. Roland John Wiley, “Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il′yich,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 14, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051766.
  4. “1812 Overture, Op. 49 (Tchaikovsky, Peter Illych),” IMSLP.

Cut IDs

16845 19489 19490 40369 40976 41235 45721