Why now is no time for Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture

‘It is important to bear in mind that Tchaikovsky wrote the piece to a commission; he did not like the finished work and, with justification, considered it of doubtful value.’ Photograph: EPA

The cannon effects in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture – a bombastic adornment to a piece of music written for the 70th anniversary, in 1882, of the Battle of Borodino – are sending a wrong message in the light of the tragedy now unfolding in Ukraine (Cardiff orchestra defends move to cut Tchaikovsky from concert, 12 March)

Furthermore, the finale of the overture, with the Marseillaise being triumphantly overpowered by the Russian national anthem, might have had a specific meaning in the Russian imperial context of the time, whereas the basic opposition between the “bad” French anthem and the “good” Russian one is now but a hollow symbol of Russian triumphalism, ill-suited to our times. It is important to bear in mind that Tchaikovsky wrote the piece to a commission; he did not like the finished work and, with justification, considered it of doubtful value.