FRIDAY, July 24, 2020
Celebration of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1876.
How much interest did Wagner have in the US? Was there money involved in writing this? He wrote it five years after his march in celebration of the end of Franco Prussian War, in 1871. So in a few years he moved from a celebration of something that happened in his own country to the US, and my own cynicism makes me doubt that much of this was about anything but making money. I may be wrong.
The full title…
It’s quite a mouthful:
Grand Festive March for the Opening of the Centennial Celebration of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. (Großer Festmarsch zur Eröffnung der hundertjährigen Gedenkfeier der Unabhängigkeitserklärung der Vereinigten Staaten)
(Grand Festive March for the Opening of the Centennial Celebration of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America) (1876) Großer Festmarsch zur Eröffnung der hundertjährigen Gedenkfeier der Unabhängigkeitserklärung der Vereinigten Staaten
What more characteristic 4th of July treat than an American centennial march composed by a German, played by a Hong Kong orchestra, directed by an Armenian conductor born in Beirut in 1935:?
Varujan Kojian…
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, of Armenian parents, Kojian entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 12, continuing his education as a violinist at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He had studied with world-renowned violinist Jascha Heifetz. He was assistant concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the age of 19.
He was on the music faculty of the University of California-Santa Barbara and was a guest conductor of orchestras throughout the world.