David Stewart asks:

>Why are the tunes from the 1812 overture so irrefutably bad ;-) and
>others to die for?

The Marseillaise, one of the tunes in question and, in a revolutionary
marching song which became a national anthem, literally one to die for,
is probably one of the great tunes.

There are no indisputable rules for a good tune; if anything is a matter
for irreducible taste, this is.  As far as "irrefutably bad" is concerned,
the vox populi argument might do as a refutation.

Jim Tobin