There’s something magical about the big water. A trip to the sea refreshes us, helps us to forget, makes us think about bigger things. I myself have just arrived at the ocean for a week of trying to remember (or figure out?) who I am.

Not surprisingly, the sea has been an inspiration to countless composers. If I were to write a post about every water-themed piece, I would need to spend more than a month at the seaside, and sadly I’m not given that much vacation time.

I stumbled on today’s piece indirectly through my studies on Benjamin Britten (who, incidentally, wrote a TON of sea-themed music.)  Britten was a wee lad of thirteen when he heard Frank Bridge‘s composition, The Sea, and was completely blown away by it – so much so, that Britten sought Bridge out as a composition teacher, thus starting a lifelong, loving relationship of student and mentor. Bridge was considered one of England’s leading composers during his lifetime, but has since fallen into a bit of obscurity; this just means that his music is due for a revival! The Sea was written a few years after Debussy wrote La Mer (the English and the French are always trying to one-up each other.) La Mer is better-known, perhaps, since Bridge’s take on the ocean is much more musically conservative. Even so, it’s a lovely piece, and I’m glad to have found it, even if through the back door.

Maurice Ravel wrote “La Valse” as a commission by the famous ballet choreographer, Sergei Diaghilev (who also commissioned the Rite of Spring, and many other famous early 20th century pieces.) Diaghilev rejected the music, saying “It’s a masterpiece, but it’s not a ballet. It’s the portrait of a ballet.”

Indeed it is a masterpiece. There’s plenty of clichéd waltz material here, but it’s presented as a parody. It doesn’t play like the countless standard 18th century European waltzes. It’s more like a drunken dream about going to a posh party and getting swept up in the music and dancing. Imagine approaching a large European manor home. You can hear the distant music inside, you see the fancy dresses and carefree partygoers. You enter the home and are overwhelmed by the music and the rhythm. You dance and dance, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes with your lover, sometimes by yourself. Eventually the champagne kicks in, and everybody starts getting wild and out of control. The music, and the party, end abruptly and you are thrown out the front door. 9/10 would waltz again.

A piece of music, written about a piece of music? That’s sooooo meta …

note: this cannon makes music AND war.

Blogging: some days the words flow from a never-ending stream of genius and awesomeness; other days, I end up blankly staring at my screen, watching the worst of YouTube, desperately looking for inspiration. (the same thing can happen when it comes to music composition, by the way!) When I’m stuck, the first thing I do is search for historical events that happened on the day of the post. So what happened on June 30? The Tunguska Event – and no, I had never heard of this until today’s web search.

Basically, the Tunguska Event was a meteor that struck the middle of Siberia in 1908 and caused a massive explosion that leveled 2,000 sq. km of forest (and caused no known human casualties***).

.. a big BOOM … in Russia … eureka! I’ve got it! I’m a genius!

Tchaikovsky‘s 1812 Overture is the most famous musical BOOM. It was written in 1882 to celebrate Russia’s victory over Napoleon in 1812. As far as the music is concerned, it’s not the most amazing piece ever written; I’d venture to say that it’s one of Tchaikovsky’s tackier contributions to the Art Music canon (pun intended). I’m not saying it’s bad, but compared to his 6th symphony or to his opera Eugene Onegin, the 1812 Overture is a hodge-podge collage of nationalistic sentimentality, including some ridiculously long, melodic sequences (like the one that starts at 0:52 and ends at 1:39 – yes, 45 seconds of descending tetrachords …), and, of course, cannons!

This is why I’m posting just the finale, not the whole piece. You can listen to the whole thing if you want, but trust me, it’ll just be a long wait until the cannons come out. Here’s what you’re hearing:

• 0:03 La Marseillaise, the French National anthem, representing Napoleon of course
• 0:40 the first of the cannons!
• 1:39 A Russian Orthodox Hymn (O Lord, Save Thy People)
• 1:45 Church Bells celebrating the Russian victory
• 3:14 God Save the Tsar, the Russian National anthem at the time (spoiler alert – God doesn’t save the Tsar)

*** if it did cause any human casualties … what a totally metal way to die!