God Preserve Thy People, the opening of Pytor Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Symphony, must surely be one
of the greatest in all of European Classical Music.
Well, since
that is a largely subjective and contentious assertion, let me qualify it by
stating that it must be one of the greatest hymns of national patriotism. I can
think only of Finlandia
Hymni, Jean Sibelius. Both, of course, were soulful,
erudite expressions of national resolve and resistance to foreign invasion.
God Preserve Thy People was an old
Russian hymn that Tchaikovsky incorporated into his powerful music. It goes:
Grant salvation to Thy people, Lord,
and we pray The bless thine inheritance, O God.
Grant vict’ry to those who fight to save our righteous faith and our
dear sacred land,
and from all evil deliver us.
Then the guardian of perfect grace, the cross will forever be.
The Cross will forever be
The cross will be, the cross.
While the use
of a choir is an understandably popular choice for orchestras, I prefer the
solemn strains of string instruments which to me evoke mournful contemplation
of the assault that is to come, as well as the expansive Russian landscape
which during the forthcoming winter would play a decisive part in inflicting a
colossal defeat on Napoleon’s Grand Armee.
The war,
which was about enforcing the Emperor’s “Continental System”; the anti-British
blockade which aimed to destroy British commerce began on June 24th 1812 when
the Grand Armee crossed the Neman River. After the engagements with Russian
forces at Smolensk and Borodino, the occupation and burning of Moscow by the
French did not bring the expected capitulation by Tsar Alexander I. The
Russians who had withdrawn bided their time while the Grand Armee bore the
burdens of a harsh Winter.
The campaign
officially ended on December 14th 1812 when the last French troops left Russian
soil.
© Adeyinka
Makinde (2019)
Adeyinka
Makinde is a writer based in London, England.
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