Posted Saturday 6/29 on NPR’s Deceptive Cadence blog is Scott Simon’s radio interview with Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart and David Mugar, executive producer of the Pops’s July 4th Fireworks Spectacular. Mugar tells Simon that the idea of performing Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” at that annual concert dates from 1973. “The concerts that were being held by Esplanade were declining in popularity, and they needed something to jumpstart their interest to the public.… I just thought of … having the ‘1812 Overture’ played … and suggested the idea to Arthur [Fiedler], and he thought that would sound great.” Lockhart, who says he’s conducted the piece “for 19 years straight here in Boston,” explains that “1812” was meant to “celebrate the Russian victory over the French in their war of 1812.… But it was meant for big outdoor festivals and includes parts for cannons and for church bells. And since we were in a big outdoor space where it was possible to fire off cannons and to ring live church bells up and down the Back Bay area of Boston, I think they thought, well, if there’s any piece that is going to draw some outdoor interest, it’s the ‘1812 Overture.’ “
Posted July 1, 2013
