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Jul. 13th, 2001 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreAh, the 1812 Overture. My favorite piece of classical music, and I finally got to hear it live last night. The wonderful Rose bought me and Kiri tickets for the San Francisco Symphony's Tchaikovsky concert. Four pieces.. selections from one of his operas, the Piano Concerto No 1, the Fantasy Overture from Romeo and Juliet, and the 1812.
It's odd that this piece, written to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Russian victory over Napoleon, should come to be an important part of America's celebration of independence, but that is how I discovered it.
Being born on July 4th, and sharing that birthday with a younger sister, means that you never really get to do anything on your birthday. Everything is either closed or mobbed, all your friends are on vacation, so you settle for a different day for your party, and trade off years on who gets to choose what to eat on the actual day.
I still remember the first time I saw the Boston Pops play the Overture. It was my 9th birthday, 1975, and we were at the home of some family friends. All I remember is that they had a indeterminate number of very friendly puppies, and a beautiful parrot that seemed to hate everyone except me. As the even wore on, I drifted to the living room. Several people were watching a concert, and having nothing better to do, I plopped down on the floor to watch.
Most of it was boring to me, as I recall. I did enjoy the patriotic sing-along, and found some of the instruments interesting (to this day, I wonder where they get bassoon players, it's not the kind of thing you suddenly decide to take up!)
Then they started the 1812, and the camera kept cutting to these Army howitzers.. This really caught my attention! Cannons? At a concert? This bears watching! I wasn't disappointed. After a bit, the cannons started firing, the music was swelling,and I was hooked. After the concert finished, I asked one of the adults what the deal was with the cannons. He explained the history, and I was stunned. People wrote music about war? Tres Cool!
Since then, watching the Pops, first on PBS, then on A&E, has been my birthday tradition, along with inflicting the "1812 Overture" lecture on everyone around me. I've probably owned a dozen different recordings, but until last night, I'd never felt the music wash over me. Now I have, and for that, thank you Rose.
Now I just need ten grand so I can conduct the Boston Pops playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever"
It's odd that this piece, written to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Russian victory over Napoleon, should come to be an important part of America's celebration of independence, but that is how I discovered it.
Being born on July 4th, and sharing that birthday with a younger sister, means that you never really get to do anything on your birthday. Everything is either closed or mobbed, all your friends are on vacation, so you settle for a different day for your party, and trade off years on who gets to choose what to eat on the actual day.
I still remember the first time I saw the Boston Pops play the Overture. It was my 9th birthday, 1975, and we were at the home of some family friends. All I remember is that they had a indeterminate number of very friendly puppies, and a beautiful parrot that seemed to hate everyone except me. As the even wore on, I drifted to the living room. Several people were watching a concert, and having nothing better to do, I plopped down on the floor to watch.
Most of it was boring to me, as I recall. I did enjoy the patriotic sing-along, and found some of the instruments interesting (to this day, I wonder where they get bassoon players, it's not the kind of thing you suddenly decide to take up!)
Then they started the 1812, and the camera kept cutting to these Army howitzers.. This really caught my attention! Cannons? At a concert? This bears watching! I wasn't disappointed. After a bit, the cannons started firing, the music was swelling,and I was hooked. After the concert finished, I asked one of the adults what the deal was with the cannons. He explained the history, and I was stunned. People wrote music about war? Tres Cool!
Since then, watching the Pops, first on PBS, then on A&E, has been my birthday tradition, along with inflicting the "1812 Overture" lecture on everyone around me. I've probably owned a dozen different recordings, but until last night, I'd never felt the music wash over me. Now I have, and for that, thank you Rose.
Now I just need ten grand so I can conduct the Boston Pops playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever"
