Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Waterloo 200th Anniversary


I didn't know it was 200 years old!

I thought it was the Eurovision winner for 1974. Maybe it's a traditional folksong that ABBA re-intepreted. Who knows?

Fnar!



But seriously, folks, I just found out today that there was an Australian on the Duke of Wellington's staff at the Great Battle. How about that?

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Wellington and Beethoven

I'm not very up on classical music, but I can recognise the melodies of the major works, even though I can't say for sure what they're called or who composed them. I know enough to be able to place at least 2 major works that were composed during or dedicated to events during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; namely the Eroica Symphony, or Symphony no.3, Op.55 (originally dedicated to Napoleon, but Beethoven later furiously scratched out his name after Bonaparte crowned himself emperor in 1804); and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, dedicated to the heroic resistance to and defeat of the French invasion of Russia.

What I didn't know until recently was that Beethoven knocked out a tribute to Wellington after his victory over King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan at Vitoria in 1813. Apparently not considered one of his greatest works (I suppose that's why it's not so well known), Beethoven reportedly said in his defense against criticism "What I shit is better than anything you could ever think up!"

Interestingly Beethoven was first given the idea to write the piece as a score for a mechanical orchestra, or panharmonium, invented by a friend of his, but later expanded it to a conventional orchestra piece. Read more about it here

So, enjoy some of Beethoven's shit!

(Found a new version of the whole piece from start to finish. Be patient: it doesn't start until about the 1:45 mark)

Wellington's Victory or the Battle Symphony, Op.91

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Napoleonic Music

I'm getting very technical with my blog after seeing what could be done on other sites. I've found a couple of stirring musical numbers from both sides of the Peninsula War for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

(Appropriately, the first one is titled Roast Beef of Old England!)



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