Photo: The United States Army Band, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture was written as a commemoration of what?

The 1812 Overture was composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s successful defense against Napoleon’s army in 1812.

How did it become an American symbol?

In 1974, the Boston Pops played it before crowds of hundreds of thousands along the Charles River banks, making it the iconic piece for July 4th celebrations around the country. As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than a dozen ensembles in Connecticut, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have decided to skip the piece in 2022.