The forthcoming series of Classical Spectaculars at the RAH will be performed without the fireworks-strewn, Russian-glorifying 1812 overture.
The promoters, Sony-owned Raymond Gubbay Ltd, consider it inappropriate.
You read it here first.
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RAVEL Bolero
STRAUSS Also Sprach Zarathustra
ORFF O Fortuna from Carmina Burana
MASCAGNI Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
VERDI Grand March from Aida
TCHAIKOVSKY Waltz of the Flowers
WAGNER Prelude to Act III Lohengrin
HANDEL Hallelujah Chorus
ELGAR Nimrod from Enigma Variations
VERDI Sempre Libera & Brindisi from La Traviata
JENKINS Benedictus from The Armed Man
VERDI La donna e mobile
Also: Nessun Dorma, Land of Hope and Glory, Hornpipe, Rule, Britannia! and
1812 OVERTURE with thundering cannons and indoor fireworks
https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2022/classical-spectacular/
On the Raymond Gubbay website, the 1812 Overture has been deleted and a reference to a firework finale has been substituted.
I believe itโs the last run of Classical Spectacular at the Albert Hall as there are no November dates and the hall says there are no plans for any dates next year.
“I’ll give you my Nutcracker playbill when you pry it from my cold dead hands”
— American crackers
This can’t be serious, surely?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALERT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They have also scrapped Tchaikovsky ‘s “Waltz of the Flowers”!
๐
Boycott RAH and listen to “Explosive Classics” at full volume in protest!
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010989
The anti-EU “Rule, Britannia!” is back in.
And Verdi’s “Marcia trionfale”, in recognition of Gergiev’s real estate.
“anti-EU”? Grow up.
OK, how about anti-woke or rightish “Rule, Britannia!”?
https://slippedisc.com/2020/08/timid-bbc-retreats-from-rule-britannia/
Yes, 1740 was a vintage year for anti-EU songs.
This, honestly, I don’t understand. Tchaikovsky has nothing to do with this war or with modern Russia. If we cancel Tchaikovsky, we should also cancel Wagner and many others. Wagner, by the way, inspired not only Hitler, but also Putin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Group).
Either does Gergiev and Matsuev and looked what happened to them.
Well, they could have and do have some Tchaikovsky in the program, but 1812? It s the worse possible choice.
I agree, in principle. Banning Tchaikovsky to punish Putin is nonsense. In fact, as a cultured European and gay man Tchaikovsky would be persecuted in today’s Russia.
Still, celebrating Russia’s military prowess with the loud and obnoxious 1812 ouverture might not be the best choice currently. I probably would have substituted something more suitable, e.g. Souvenir de Florence or something peaceful from the ballets.
It’s not Tchaikovsky’s fault, but nobody in the West could possibly be in the mood for this piece at the moment, any more than anyone would have been for the Ride of the Valkyries during World War 2.
Wagner nights were popular in the UK throughout WW2 (and indeed WW1), as was most German music (including Richard Strauss). Most people were capable of distinguishing between an entire national culture and the actions of a particular political regime.
Good, an adult comment.
Look, arts people, the invasion of Ukraine is not about you.
Correct – and that’s why this discussion is silly. Our attention should be focused on the human tragedy unfolding before our eyes, and not on whether it’s appropriate to perform a work that glorifies the occupying power, regardless of the period it was written, or the composer’s own situation. I understand perfectly well that Tchaikovsky has nothing to do with Putin’s invasion, but to insist that there’s nothing wrong about performing this work at this time is to miss the point quite badly. In other words, read the room, folks.
Feel free to go ahead and program the 1812 Overture on your own concert series, and see how it flies. I’m betting on “like a lead balloon.”
Isn’t the 1812 the only reason most people go to these concerts? If Sony wants to be a little more politically sensitive, they need also to change the other Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Orff, and Wagner items…
They might have co-opted it for Ukraine, as Churchill made the first bit of Beethoven’s 5th his victory trademark. Beethoven was a German, as I recall.
It’s inappropriate on purely musical grounds, too.
ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
Die Reden Zarathustras
Vom Krieg und Kriegsvolke
Von unsern besten Feinden wollen wir nicht geschont sein, und auch von denen nicht, welche wir von Grund aus lieben. So laรt mich denn euch die Wahrheit sagen!
Meine Brรผder im Kriege! Ich liebe euch von Grund aus, ich bin und war euresgleichen. Und ich bin auch euer bester Feind. So laรt mich denn euch die Wahrheit sagen!
Ich weiร um den Haร und Neid eures Herzens. Ihr seid nicht groร genug, um Haร und Neid nicht zu kennen. So seid denn groร genug, euch ihrer nicht zu schรคmen!
Und wenn ihr nicht Heilige der Erkenntnis sein kรถnnt, so seid mir wenigstens deren Kriegsmรคnner. Das sind die Gefรคhrten und Vorlรคufer solcher Heiligkeit.
Ich sehe viel Soldaten: mรถchte ich viel Kriegsmรคnner sehn! ยปEinformยซ nennt man’s, was sie tragen: mรถge es nicht Ein-form sein, was sie damit verstecken!
Ihr sollt mir solche sein, deren Auge immer nach einem Feinde sucht โ nach eurem Feinde. Und bei einigen von euch gibt es einen Haร auf den ersten Blick.
Euren Feind sollt ihr suchen, euren Krieg sollt ihr fรผhren, und fรผr eure Gedanken! Und wenn euer Gedanke unterliegt, so soll eure Redlichkeit darรผber noch Triumph rufen!
Ihr sollt den Frieden lieben als Mittel zu neuen Kriegen. Und den kurzen Frieden mehr als den langen.
Euch rate ich nicht zur Arbeit, sondern zum Kampfe. Euch rate ich nicht zum Frieden, sondern zum Siege. Eure Arbeit sei ein Kampf, euer Friede sei ein Sieg!
Man kann nur schweigen und stillsitzen, wenn man Pfeil und Bogen hat: sonst schwรคtzt und zankt man. Euer Friede sei ein Sieg!
Ihr sagt, die gute Sache sei es, die sogar den Krieg heilige? Ich sage euch: der gute Krieg ist es, der jede Sache heiligt.
Der Krieg und der Mut haben mehr groรe Dinge getan, als die Nรคchstenliebe. Nicht euer Mitleiden, sondern eure Tapferkeit rettete bisher die Verunglรผckten.
ยปWas ist gut?ยซ fragt ihr. Tapfer sein ist gut. Laรt die kleinen Mรคdchen reden: ยปgut sein ist, was hรผbsch zugleich und rรผhrend ist.ยซ
Man nennt euch herzlos: aber euer Herz ist echt, und ich liebe die Scham eurer Herzlichkeit. Ihr schรคmt euch eurer Flut, und andre schรคmen sich ihrer Ebbe.
Ihr seid hรครlich? Nun wohlan, meine Brรผder! So nehmt das Erhabne um euch, den Mantel des Hรครlichen!
Und wenn eure Seele groร wird, so wird sie รผbermรผtig, und in eurer Erhabenheit ist Bosheit. Ich kenne euch.
In der Bosheit begegnet sich der รbermรผtige mit dem Schwรคchlinge. Aber sie miรverstehen einander. Ich kenne euch.
Ihr dรผrft nur Feinde haben, die zu hassen sind, aber nicht Feinde zum Verachten. Ihr mรผรt stolz auf euern Feind sein: dann sind die Erfolge eures Feindes auch eure Erfolge.
Auflehnung โ das ist die Vornehmheit am Sklaven. Eure Vornehmheit sei Gehorsam! Euer Befehlen selber sei ein Gehorchen!
Einem guten Kriegsmanne klingt ยปdu sollstยซ angenehmer als ยปich willยซ. Und alles, was euch lieb ist, sollt ihr euch erst noch befehlen lassen.
Eure Liebe zum Leben sei Liebe zu eurer hรถchsten Hoffnung: und eure hรถchste Hoffnung sei der hรถchste Gedanke des Lebens!
Euren hรถchsten Gedanken aber sollt ihr euch von mir befehlen lassen โ und er lautet: der Mensch ist etwas, das รผberwunden werden soll.
So lebt euer Leben des Gehorsams und des Krieges! Was liegt am Lang-Leben! Welcher Krieger will geschont sein!
Ich schone euch nicht, ich liebe euch von Grund aus, meine Brรผder im Kriege! โ
Also sprach Zarathustra
Friedrich Nietzsche
One of these crazy outbursts of Nietzsche. The book is full of contradictions, and based upon his frontal attack upon organised religion, which he claimed was undermining ‘the life force’. This ‘celebration of war’ is partly meant symbolically, as everything in the book is symbolic. And elsewhere in the book there are entirely different outbursts, – the whole book is incoherent. And let’s not forget he ended in insanity.
His fantasies about violence are the ravings of a physically sick and entirely isolated, miserable man. But he was the first philosopher who clearly formulated the new world of modernity that was in the making, with its insanity.
What next, a ban on radio broadcasts of Marche Slave? Actually, I wouldn’t miss that overplayed piece at all.
Utter madness. Full-blown hypocrisy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no more illegal than the UK & US-led invasion of Iraq that killed an estimated quarter of a million people and for which no one stopped playing Nimrod. These double standards are doing my head in.
Sorry, co-readers, “doublestandards” is telling the through.
Even if that is “the through”, Putin is now far out at the front of the queue for a war crimes tribunal thanks to his overt threat to use nukes, as well as the indiscriminate weaponry he has already deployed and used in Ukraine.
On the subject of the thread, 1812’s musical vacuousness makes it a perfect fit for the Gubbay gigs. Nobody with an ounce of musicality will mourn its loss or their demise, just the bean counters at Sony.
Sneering at ‘Gubbay gigs’ – an excellent way of putting people off classical music.
Has it occurred to you that concerts of hits from Handel to R Strauss might, just might, be a good way for beginners to sample different styles and decide which they like?
Don’t fall off your pedestal, it’s a long way down.
Gubbay gigs are a great way of relieving the “I know what I like” crowd from their cash. There’s rarely anything on the programme that’s adventurous and hasn’t been “made famous” by a TV commercial, film, or other usage. Or have I missed something and they’re playing all of Also Sprach Zarathustra this time?
DAVE. Sorry.
(Already corrected it twice but damn’ automatic corrector corrected your name his way!)
Two wrongs donโt make a right.
Morally dubious whataboutery aside, Nimrod isn’t a military piece with cannons, fireworks and national hymns glorifying the defeat of one nation by another.
There’s to be a flashmob performance of The Great Gate of Kyiv in Trafalgar Square on Sunday at 3pm. A positive, rather than a negative, event. I’d love to participate, but my instrument’s the harpsichord and – given recent airline catastrophes with musical instruments – I don’t fancy taking the risk LAX-LHR.
There’s no more heroic instrument than the harpsichord.
Tchaikovsky would be delighted; didn’t he hate the thing?
Cultural warriors can now shut down the entire Russian music.
What will happen with Shosta’s 7th?
How many in the audience would see any connection between the 1812 Overture and the present invasion by Russia?
Having sung in the Classic Spectacular for many years, cannot believe there will be no more performances. People used to love it and will be so disappointed. Why is this happening after so many years? Really cannot believe it!
So wrong to mix classical values with politics of the day!