Fascinating Facts

The Biography Channel has a famous motto that says, "Every life has a story." Well, the same is true for every song...every work of art...every creative conquest. Every one of them has a story, and it is our loss if we don't search it out!

For our anniversary this year, my children gave my husband and me tickets to four performances of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra during the month of June. Last night we heard incredible music from Strauss, Dvorak, and Mendelssohn. But the climax of the evening was the chill-producing "1812 Overture" by Peter Tchaikovsky performed by the 100-piece orchestra which boasts some of the finest musicians in the country.

The house was packed! Almost 130 years after the piece was written, it is still filling huge auditoriums and bringing audiences to their feet.

But what's the story behind this work? I had to go back and do some research. What I learned made me realize that Tchaikovsky, who is undeniably one of the greatest musical minds to have ever graced our planet, was really not much different that we songwriters are a century and a half later.

The overture was actually commissioned for the 25th anniversary celebration of Czar Alexander II's coronation and the defeat of Napoleon's army by the Russians in 1812.

Tchaikovsky took the "gig" because of the exposure it would give him as a composer and hopefully also, some money to support himself. He completed the composition over a six-week period and worked diligently with the event producers to pull it off complete with real cannon fire (16 shots were orchestrated into the piece) and bells ringing from the cathedral.

Unfortunately, however, the performance never came to be -- due to the untimely assassination of the Czar. (If you songwriters have never had the deflating experience of having your latest masterpiece completely eliminated from the gig that was to make it a hit, you cannot appreciate the situation). Keep writing and you will inevitably "get it."

Not only did Peter have to endure the cancellation of the gig due to a national tragedy which completely sidelined his work, he also really didn't think much of the piece at all once he had finished it. He thought it "too noisy," and "without artistic merit." (Raise your hand if you have ever listened to your latest recording and thought you completely blew it!)

Well...like many of us, Tchiakovsky had it a little wrong. Not only did "1812" go on to become one of the most familiar and loved of his entire catalog, it also would have made his estate the most money (if he had belonged to ASCAP or BMI).

One of the most fascinating things about us songwriters is how much we are the same...no matter what style of music we write or what century we belong to. I encourage everyone to turn off the TV...put "1812" in your iPod...lie down on the floor with a pillow under your knees and just let the glorious music wash over you.
Then, read about this amazing composer, his life and his work. You will find the "story behind the song" as fascinating as the music itself!