Q: "The 1812 Overture" is played at July 4 celebrations across the country every year. What is the origin of that and what does it have to do with the U.S.?
—William Peasley, Canton
A: "The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major" was written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate the battle of Borodino between Russia and Napoleon Bonaparte's French army on Sept. 7, 1812. The song debuted in Moscow in 1882 and Tchaikovsky conducted it as part of a program to open New York's Carnegie Hall in 1891, although he thought the song was "very loud and noisy." It didn't become a July 4 fixture until 1974, according to a 2003 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. That's when conductor Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops performed the song with fireworks, cannons and a steeple-bell choir to boost attendance at its summer concerts, a Boston Symphony archivist told the paper. The concert was televised, increasing the song's popularity, and by the 1980s and '90s, it was being played annually throughout the country on July 4, according to the paper. Jan Swafford, a professor at the Boston Conservatory, told NPR this year: "There are two things about it: It has fireworks built in, so in that sense it's a natural. And it has an enormous, patriotic, celebratory quality, no matter what it's celebrating, and that's certainly relevant. By the time it comes around with the fireworks at the Fourth of July, everybody's pretty drunk anyways. It's a fantastic climax for the evening, this explosion of joy and fireworks and cannons."
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We'll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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