nPostednon August 20, 2015
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n Onnthis date in 1882, Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” debuted innMoscow.
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nHerenin the U.S., we talk in our history books about the War of 1812nbetween the United States and the United Kingdom and British coloniesnand Native American allies – but over in Russia, kids learn aboutnan entirely different War of 1812. (Actually, they call it thenPatriotic War of 1812. But, you know, in the Russian language.) Innthat year, the Russians were able to chase Napoleon’s invading armynout of Russia…but the Russian soldiers and people suffered greatnmiseries and losses while doing it.
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nBeforenattacking Russia, Napoleon and his French Grande Arméenhad able to conquer Egypt, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Poland, Spain,nand much of both Italy and Germany. But the long, hard, and very coldnRussian campaign decimated Napoleon’s army and soon led to thendestruction of his empire and his own exile from France.
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nThenamazing Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote this festivalnoverture to celebrate Russia’s victory in driving back Napoleon.nThere are military-sounding rat-a-tat drums, cannons firing, a clamornof clashing chimes, and a brass fanfare at the end of the piece!
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nBecausenof this fiery finale, this piece of music is used in some fireworksndisplays. Americans may listen to the end of the overture and think,n“Oh, Fourth of July!” It sounds to us like patriotic-to-Americanmusic, but it was written to be patriotic-to-Russia music.
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nExcept,nof course, that’s the thing about music: it tends to be prettynuniversal!
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nHere’snthe whole 1812 Overture, if you are patient enough to listen tonfifteen minutes, and here’s just the famous finale, which isnonly four minutes long.
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nIf you don’t even have four minutes to spare, fast forward the latter to the 3:00 mark and listen to justnthe very last minute of the piece.
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nOrnyou can just go with the Boston Pops orchestra, and U.S. troops on cannons,nand fireworks in the sky. This is a super short clip—but it’s exciting!
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nAlsonon this date:
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nSt.nStephen’s Day in Hungary
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nEarthnOvershoot Day
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nAnniversarynof the launch of Voyager 2
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nAugustn holidays
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nAugustn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in August
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nSeptembern holidays
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nSeptembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in September
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