I have a love-hate relationship with Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”. You are probably thinking…why are your bringing this up? If you don’t know it by the name, I am sure you have heard it in a movie or watching the fireworks on the 4th of July.  My love for it is because it reminds me of by grandfather playing in the concert band with the family sitting around watching the fireworks. My hate for it is because of my old neighbor that lived in the downstairs apartment would blare it in the middle of the night. One night I thought we were being shot at…it was just the cannons in the music.

Now with the war with Russia, a lot of things are being affected here like our gas prices. Also, companies are pulling there products/business from Russia like Coke, Pepsi, Starbucks, and McDonalds, but now the “1812 Overture”? Several orchestras are pulling the composition from their programs in support with Ukraine. Ok, but is this too far?  The “1812 Overture” was written to celebrate Russia’s defense against the invasion of Napoleon. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in Russia in 1893. Putin was born 59 years later and invaded Ukraine 129 years later.  Tchaikovsky was believed to be gay, a liberal and ultimately rejected Russian nationalism.

So, why cancel music, too? I totally get it when they took the Grammy away from Milli Vanilli in 1989.  I just have a hard time with the removal of this international staple, which has been around for 142 years. Well, as long as its play doing normal hours.