1812

 The incredible popularity in release of this version of 1812 proved not only the durable appeal of Tchaikovsky’s famous musical

3 war-horse, but also the appetite of the record-buying public for genuine sonic thrills. Thus, Mercury was prompted to seek out

another “symphonic battle piece”: Beethoven’s stormy Wellington's Victory. Here, cannons were present in the scoring, plus the

carefully-cued rattling crack of 19th century musketry. In this second recording, another “sonic spectacular” was born—and, once

again, recording history was made!

mated orchestral machine run by air pressure

which played flutes, clarinets, trumpets, violins,

cellos, drums, cymbals, triangles and so on. It

could also be made to shoot off muskets and other

weaponry. Fascinated by what the machine could

do, Beethoven agreed enthusiastically to write a

piece for the metal monster. The composer had

been a Bonapartist until 1804 when Napoleon un-

seated the French Revolution and made himself

an Emperor. At that time, he scratched the Na-

poleonic dedication from his Eroica Symphony

and joined the Anti-Bonaparte partisans. After

the Vitoria victory, he was delighted at the

chance of depicting musically the defeat of the

Emperor’s brother by the British.

In Wellington’s Victory, Beethoven wrote

carefully to the capacities of the machine, but

troubles in rigging the apparatus kept delaying

its premiere. The novelty value of the subject of

the piece was fast fading. Finally, Beethoven de-

cided quickly to re-score it for conventional or-

chestra. It was thus that it was first performed.

As the piece begins, the opposing armies intro-

duce themselves musically before doing battle.

First, faintly from the British camp (right), a

drum tattoo pulses distantly; other drums join

in; the sound grows until a thundering roar fills

the air; then, above the tumult of steady drum-

ming, trumpets sound a battle cry.'The British

cap this brilliant fanfare with a rousing version

of Rule, Britannia. From their side (left), the

French respond with their own drum-and-trum-

pet fanfare and the war song Malbrouck s’en va

ten guerre (known to Americans as The Bear

Went Over The Mountain). After these prelimi-

naries, the French challenge the British to fight

in a stirring trumpet call. The British accept,

throwing the call back with higher-pitched trum-

pets. As battle begins, the main orchestra takes

over. Throughout the clamorous battle, the Brit-

ish and French trumpets are heard distinctly

from their respective sides, rallying the troops.

Musket volleys and cannonade punctuate the

music. Soon, we notice that only the British can-

non are firing. The British have won the upper

hand; Bonaparte’s army finally shudders to a halt

in a minor-key version of the Malbrouck tune. A

victory finale, featuring a vigorous treatment of

God Save The King, brings this piéce d’occasion

to a tremendous close.

HOW THESE RECORDINGS WERE MADE

The musical portions of the Overture 1812 were

recorded in Minneapolis, while the military ef.

fects were taped at West Point. To serve as au-

thentic French weapons of a type used by Napo-

leon in 1812, Gerald C. Stowe, Curator of the

West Point Museum, selected cannons made in

France during the 18th century: one made in

Douay in 1775 (stereo version), and the other cast

in Strasbourg in 1761 (monophonic version).

To achieve a truly realistic bell effect for this

recording, it was decided to use authentic caril-

lon sounds. For the stereo version, the magnifi-

cent Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Caril-

lon of New York City’s Riverside Church was

used. This instrument includes a bass-toned bell

which is the largest tuned bell in the world; the

full carillon weighs over half a million pounds.

For the monophonic version, use was obtained

of the bells of the beautiful Harkness Memorial

Tower on the Yale University campus.

The recording of Wellington’s Victory used

three orchestras in which augmented sections of

brass and percussion, flintlock muskets and a bat-

tery of field artillery comprised basic added ele-

ments. According to Beethoven’s instructions,

the musical forces were deployed in the follow-

ing manner:

His score fixes the exact point at which each of

188 cannon shots was to be fired, designating

British weaponry by a black dot @; French by a

hollow dot o. These dots appear above their re-

spective beats and measures. Entry, direction and

duration of the musket shots is indicated pre-

cisely by notation, each volley shown in tied,

trilled notes.

Again, as in recording of the 1812, weapons of

authentic style were provided by the West Point

Museum and firing was done on the grounds of

the United States Military Academy. Seven flint-

lock muskets of the Napoleonic era—both British

and French in casting—were used. The muzzle-

loading field artillery is represented by two 6-

pound smooth-bore bronze cannons and a 12-

pound bronze howitzer. The French cannon heard

here was made at Strasbourg in 1761; the British

at Woolwich in 1755; the howitzer is of a type

used by both sides in the Napoleonic wars.