Today, I am thankful for the music that defines the summer.
Although summer will not officially conclude until Tuesday, September 22, the last two weeks of August are traditionally regarded as the end of the festivities of the summer season. With the impending arrival of another school year and the Labor Day Holiday, most Americans revel in the fortnight leading up to the eventual end of August. So, today, I wanted to take a moment to commemorate those songs that remind us why the summer season is so sublime. If I chose to go ‘old school’ with this segment, I could turn to The Drifters to remind us about the magic that often transpires Under the Boardwalk on those hot summer nights. Or I can tell you more (tell you more) about the glory of Summer Nights, courtesy of Olivia Newton-John and the musical Grease. But, if truly pressed, I’d justly reach for any song from the Beach Boys, who inevitably spent their entire career singing tunes about the wonderful season of sunshine, beach lounging, and endless, sweltering nights: Wouldn’t it be Nice for me to share the Good Vibrations of the Fun, Fun, Fun of the summer sun?
Instead, I’d like to use today’s blog to tell a story of a song that best defines my summers as a child, and many Fourth of July celebrations along the way. When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to serve as a summer counselor at a Greek Orthodox camp in Brooksville, Florida. I have so many fascinating memories of the entire experience, but one that I particularly wanted to share pertains to an early morning routine that would take place at 7 AM every day. With the sun just beginning to peek above the evergreen pines surrounding the camp cabins, I would saunter up to the camp office, pull the tape cassette close to the camp microphone, and press the play button to play the final minute of the 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. As the brass fanfare and cannons filled the air, dreary-eyed campers would, one by one, be awaken from their slumber to start their day anew. To this day, I cannot listen to the 1812 Overture without thinking about how annoyed the young troopers would glare at me as they made their way up to the flagpole, where we’d raise the American flag.
Now, many of us invariably know Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece as a staple of the Independence Day celebration. In fact, it ‘s somewhat hard to envision any fireworks display without the bombastic and theatrical performance of the brass band, woodwinds, and percussion of the classical overture playing in the background. The timely fire of the ceremonial cannon artillery made for a stupendous opportunity to coordinate the explosion of multi-colored fireworks in the evening sky. The irony of the whole song is that it was never intended to commemorate the United States in any way.
For many years, I had convinced myself that the festive concert performance was written in celebration of the War of 1812, in which the US army staved off an attack by the British forces. Although a famous song was written in 1814 to commemorate that war, namely The Star Spangled Banner, Tchaikovsky actually composed his overture to celebrate the battle of the Russian troops against the Grande Armee of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Borodino. As the French Emperor ruthlessly marched his way to the Russian capital, he encountered the much smaller Russian army in early September 1812 in the town of Bordino, just 75 miles west of Moscow. In an epic battle where up to 100,000 French troops lost their lives, the French eventually persevered, but the pyrrhic victory left the French army somewhat depleted and in wont of resources. As Napoleon pressed on into Moscow, where he hoped to find reinforcements, he found himself in the dead of winter in a desolate city, burned to the ground by the Russian civilians, who had escaped ahead of the arrival of their European foes. Left to retreat back to Poland, amidst the frigid temperatures, famine, and a bout of typhus, Napoleon would lose nearly nine tenths of its army.
The 15-minute 1812 Overture was written by Tchaikovsky in only a 6-week span to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the coronation of the Czar of Russia, Alexander II. Its initial performance In Moscow on this day (Aug 20) in 1882 coincided with the near completion of a massive edifice, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Well, nearly 100 years later, in 1974, the Boston Pops Symphony opted to cap off their Independence Day concert at the Boston Hatch Shell with a rendition of the 1812 Overture, with all the cannon fire, church bells, and loud horns coinciding in perfect harmony to a pyrotechnical display of fireworks. When the performance ended, the crowd went wild.
Others orchestras around the nation would follow suit for their Independence Day celebrations, and, before any one could blink, the pomp and circumstance of the 1812 Overture became a patriotic fixture. So, I guess I find it just a tad ironic that Americans choose to celebration our patriotic birthday with a rendition of a Russian masterpiece highlighting the epic survival of our rival superpower. That said, I guess I’m all for those things that help bring the world’s inhabitants together. After all, we all do live on the same planet, breathe the same air, and love the same music. And, we all love the summer and the memories it holds for each of us.
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