Reviving the 1812 Overture

Last October I performed Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection; it's a monumental work lasting about an hour and 20 minutes and absolutely daunting. It revolves around themes of death and the meaning of life, questions of doubt and redemption and concludes with the strongest argument for heaven I can think of. As pointed out by a colleague of mine during rehearsals, we would perform this piece the very same week the Chilean miners were rescued. At first I couldn't tell if she was trying to make a joke about it or if she was actually inspired by the correlation; of course it was the latter and the more I thought about it the more I was inspired by it as well.

When playing pieces that deal with topics such as death, sorrow, doubt or fear, I honestly cannot rely on my own experience and/or thoughts to connect to the piece. When Mahler wrote his second symphony, he was dealing with death and the meaning of life, and the fear that it is meaningless. Not to say I haven't lightly pondered on the subject, but I'm a young, white female from Kansas with not much struggle to speak of. My life account of adversity amounts to about a two on a scale of 10. But if I were to imagine being trapped deep underground for 3 months with no assurance that I would live- that is something I can draw upon when trying to connect to a symphony like Mahler's.

Our conversation renewed this week as we rehearsed for an all Tchaikovsky concert, mainly because the 1812 Overture is on the program. Look at a musician's face when they learn they will be playing this piece and you might catch an eye roll. The 1812 Overture has become so commercialized by pop culture that it has almost lost the spark it ignited when first written. We hear it on commercials, the band plays it on the Fourth of July and I'm sure you can find in a bad, old war movie. But seeing the new development that our Orchestra seemingly has a say in world events, my eyes have been opened anew to it.

The Overture was written as a symbol of overcoming impossible odds. You may have seen V for Vendetta, a film in which a tyrannical government is overturned, and in the end a sea of masked citizens join together to celebrate their new found freedom. In this fashion we have had the privilege to watch the people of Egypt come together to fight for their human rights and completely shift their future- 18 days of protesting and an oppressive government steps down. It's a powerful reminder of what we are actually capable of.

So tonight and tomorrow, I dedicate my performance to the citizens of Egypt and the opportunity that lay ahead them. And I'll put in a word to our music director not to have us play anything too morbid. We don't want that on our hands.

LoveAlways,

Gnarleigh