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TUSAB 1812 Concert

Army Multimedia and Visual Information Division

Aug. 13, 2016 | 01:23:13

Washington, DC - On Saturday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m., The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" concludes its summer season with the its annual 1812 Overture Concert. Set to take place in the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument, the 90-minute, family-friendly performance features The U.S. Army Concert Band, Army Chorus, Herald Trumpets, and soloists from The U.S. Army Voices.

Alongside patriotic favorites by John Philip Sousa, the program includes music from the stage and screen by Aaron Copland and John Williams, vocal hits by the Beach Boys, Broadway tunes from Rodgers and Hammerstein, and the energetic first movement of Robert Schumann's Konzertstück featuring the entire Concert Band French Horn section.

The concert concludes with a bang-literally. Tchaikovsky's inimitable 1812 Overture was written to commemorate the Russian defeat of Napoleon's Grande Armée. Perhaps one of the finest examples of storytelling through music, Tchaikovsky calls specifically for live cannon fire to musically fight off the advancing Napoleonic army, symbolized by the French anthem La Marseillaise. Church bells, chimes, and the chorus of Russia's God Save the Czar celebrate the Russian victory. The Presidential Salute Battery of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) lends their special talents to the performance with four 5,775-pound WWII-era anti-tank guns.