Some historical information helps me to understand this controversial
and admittedly overplayed piece. It helps me, for example, to know that
Tschaikowsky didn't want to write it at all; it was more or less imposed
upon him by a govrnment committee who wanted a big piece for the 1882
Exhibition of Industry and Arts part of which was to include the dedication
of a new Cathedral. Tschaikowsky turned the commission down; however,
his arm was twisted by Anton Rubenstein, a man of considerable influence
in czarist Russia. So Tschaikowsk--perhaps wisely--accepted, albeit
reluctantly. In a letter to Mme. Von Meck, T. wrote that "the overature
will be very showy and noisey, but it will have no artistic merit because
I wrote it without warmth and without love." Even those who dislike the
music usually write about it in more sympathetic terms than did
Tschaikowsky himslef (we ought to recall here that T. didn't care much
for the Nutcracker either). He wrote the whole work in less than two
weeks--which I find remarkable. It's what happens in totalitarian
countries where invitations are often really orders, and composers are
treated like musical hired hands (I am aware here that other composers,
such as Mozart, turned out a good deal of sublime music under similar
circumstances, but T. was not Mozart. T wrote often about his need to
have his imagaination & enthusiasm fired in order to write from the heart).
Given all of that, I think he was much too hard on himself: the 1812 is a
very workman-like piece, skillfully composed, excellent transitions, fine
harmonic work, very much the work of a skilled and gifted musician who had
to write a piece that he wasn't interested in. I wish I could do as well
with something I loved passionately. And if I'm tired of hearing it, and
I am, I'm glad to play it again for my classes, because young listeners
find in an easy door to the world of CM, and I'm glad to show them the door
often. Plus that, I frequently find that when I have to listen again to
some of the old warhorses, like the 1812, I roll my eyes and steel myself
only to discover that the music, once I actually listen to it, still has
power to seduce me, that I had remembered it as worse than it is. I even
find myself reacting to it once again like I did years ago (but, of course,
I'm too sophisticated to admit that).
Roy E.
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