I suppose we can next expect selections from Mary Schnieder's "Yodeling the Classics"?

Why do we need any version of Tchikovsky at all? Is there something wrong with AMERICAN music such as:

Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever";

Ives Holiday Symphony (the 3rd Movement is titled "4th of July"), though perhaps not accomodating for cannon fire.
(Now that we are in the 21st century, perhaps we can tolerate a bit of dissonance?)

William Schuman's "New England Triptych" based on music of William Billings, the Third Movement based on Chester, one of the most popular songs of the revolutionary period. (Schuman also orchestred Ive's organ piece "Variations on America", premiered July 4, 1891).

Or, though moving far from Tchaikovsky's model, perhaps it is time for a rousing performance of "America independent, or, The temple of Minerva" by Francis Hopkinson, signer of the Declaration of Independence and commonly credited as the designer of the first American flag.

Or perhaps it is time for a completely new work, incorporating music of OUR revolutionary period? By an American composer, perhaps?

Hey, I'm all for American music and new American music, too. But somewhere along the way, Americans got hooked on that damn Russian work for Independence Day, and I don't think tastes will change anytime soon. In a moment of frivolity and fantasy, I wondered if the music could be tweaked in an American way. And the "1812" part of title gave me the idea of making it a Baltimore-based thing, since this area had such an important role that fateful year. TIM

What role did Baltimore play in the Russsian Defeat of Napoleon - which is what the 1812 Overture commemorates? Were the cannons packed with Old Bay? We need an American composer to write a piece incorporating 16 cannon shots, get a cereal company to use it as a jingle (or are you too young to remember "It's the cereal that's shot from guns"?) and send the 1812 back to "Russian Pops Night"! Happy 4th! Time for me to go look for my CD of Robert Merrill singing great patriotic songs! Or, maybe if I'm lucky, I'll find my old LP of "The Temple of Minerva"!

Gee, can't anyone enjoy a little levity around here? Besides, in my fantasy, there wouldn't be much left of the tunes (patriotic or religious) that Tchaikovsky's used, only the basic structure and noise of the score. And, hey, Baltimore does have a connection to Napoleon -- his younger brother married a Baltimore woman right here in our fair city and only nine years before the War of 1812. That ought to count for something. TIM

Sorry, Tim; you exhausted your allowance of levity for the YEAR with the Brahms 1st on the vuvuzela last week! May the god of music have mercy on your soul! LOL

I wouldn't push too hard on that theory that bringing a Baltimorean into the family led to Napoleon's defeat and the collapse of the French Empire. LOL

Happy 4th!