U.S. Army's Presidential Salute Battery Performs 1812 Overture (08/16/2011) 

wanna play some music? sure! what do you play? the 76mm!

I think it's hilarious how this piece has become so patriotic even though it has nothing to do with America. That being said, it's my favorite classical piece of all time and I've bee listening to it on repeat for a week.

We did this with M109A3, 155mm howitzers, LOUDER than the 76's; these gentleman did a fine job, excellent timing!

cannons go boom at: 1:50 2:50 3:50 9:30

I am always in awe of the Presidential Salute Battery. I get chills every time I watch them.

Am I the only one that absolutely Wells up with emotion with this composition . I am nearly moved to tears. What an embodiment of the fight of his people. Well done Tchaikovsky. Well done honor guard.

Having served on the PSB myself, from 1995 to 1998, Job Well Done Guns Platoon. That 4 gun volley was flawless! The timing of the guns firing has nothing to do with the members of the PSB. They are told when to fire and perform their duty flawlessly.

'Oh so you're in an orchestra? What do you play?' ..."I play the cannon"

I wish the navy would do something like this with their five inchers.

By God the Americans know how to put on a show.

impressive reload time. a blank reload was following the breach as the cannon returned into battery.

Having been both an Army Bandsman and later a Field Artillery Officer during my checkered military career, I can appreciate this!

I've heard that some performances use naval guns. Imagine the Battleship Missouri doing this!

They fire at the direction of the U.S. Army Band, who posts a musician with the unit during the performance. This is practiced many times prior to the performance. The members of the Presidential Salute Battery are infantrymen, not musicians. The 1812 Overture is performed maybe twice a year by the U.S. Army Band - on Independence Day and in August during a public concert at the Sylvan Theatre at the Washington Monument grounds.

One of the best cannon sound I have ever heard!!

Man they are on time with the music. Presidential Battery is awesome.

: Great job Brett ! I still remember the 20ft flames coming out of the barrels the Bicentennial Summer of 1976. Ed Gerrity :)

That would be a question to ask the Army Band. They direct the firing.

This performance of 1812 overture has a total of 34 gun-salutes (fired during the line of "Panginoon, iligtas mo ang sambayanan" and the "Bozhe Tsarya Hranj" consecutively) rather than the original 16 gun-salute.

Presidential Batteries pack a real punch.

Police car "SHOTS FIRED!" :D

This that was also, you haven't experience awesome till you come to Long's Park for their 4th of July concert. The US Army Field Band will be playing there this year, and you can experience the correct timing of the firering of the canon's and feel the real sound of actual Civil war canons being fired, as none other than that of Charlie Smithgall's canons.

As an old Redleg, salutes such as this are fun to watch and listen. As a old firing battery XO (1977-78), they are a pain in the ass to prepare for. Every expert and wanna be experts comes out to tell you how to prepare and fire the salute. Some of which probably couldn't tell you which end of the howitzer the round comes out from.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky knew what he was doing, and his immortal work should be declared an American touchstone forever.

heck with the 5 inchers, should have done this with the 16 inchers of a BB.

God Save/Bless The Tsar/America

This is pretty impressive. But, I can tell you one thing. It is a lot louder and more impressive when the M5s are replaced with Civil War- Era 12-pounder Napoleons. I'm fortunate to be a part of a reenactment group that had the fortune to be chosen to bring our artillery pieces to a concert. I was the loader on the first cannon to fire. I tell you, we had to be on our toes to get the timing just right. We rehearsed for every weekend that month to be able to get the routine right.

Amazingly fantastic

Magnificent. I thought they used 105s, are those old 76 mm guns?

As cool as this is, it was meant to be performed with big booming 1800s cannons, not high tech US army artillery. They look awesome, but don't provide the same kind of deep pounding crash

0:04 did he say '1912' overture..?

Looks like something from the 1950s-70s, just because of the background music and footage quality

The song was written for the defence of Moscow at the advancement of Napoleon's Army. Hence we have used it to represent similar sentiments in the US (even though the War of 1812 basically ended in a stalemate with the Treaty of Ghent, it still represented a young Nation standing up for a second time against one of the largest world powers.)

So awesome!

I wish the Navy would reinstate the USS Missouri simply to do something like this with the fucking 16 INCHERS

M5 is Soviet Union production

Awesome.

Meaning of this song has nothing to do with America. I am here for the cannon which did not keep up with the cannons in the original song. The cannons were exciting though

in finally music is anthem of zarist Russia

When you say you're in favor of federal spending for the arts...

bloody awsome!!!

Love it!

ITS AWESOME

Sigh... they place the battery far away from the crowd for safety and so it doesn't deafen them. Sound takes time to travel. They're firing so that when the sound gets to the crowd it's in time (or as close as can be expected when the crowd is spread out over a decent size area). If the cameraman had been in the crowd in front of the actual orchestra it would have sounded correct, but then of course you wouldn't have been able to see them firing very well if at all. The video of the Japanese military band playing this song that someone mentioned sounds correct because the cannons and the camera are placed in close proximity to the orchestra. This video is actually a lot more impressive than the Japanese one because the battery has to fire when it "feels wrong" aka off the beat to get it to sound correct for the audience.

Finally. I can die now!

yeah, a lot of times when you hear this, they skimp on shots for some reason. like, the earlier salvo is left out entirely in some versions. they only play one song on those things, how could they not get it right?

@iliesko I'm an American and I'm very well aware of "what 1812 means in history." We're not all stupid.

No. Actually, it is in the USA

@iliesko Pretty much the First War we fought as a United Country instead of a Conglomeration of States and our National Anthem was written then, not to mention the only time we kicked ass was in New Orleans but that was the President's fault for not preparing the Military when he saw the War coming

Yeah thats right foreigners, we Americans play this song better than North Korea when they'll go to shit.

If it were up to me, I'd use a battery of bronze 6-pounders.

Semper Fi, great job killers

They're a bit 'soprano' for cannons. Where's the Boom?

do not tell me ...

fireflies

3:43 is what you came here to watch. Your welcome

good job

Brasil!

Even though America lost the war of 1812

I like the part where they shoot the big gun.

well, that not how it goes, but it was fun

Just gona point out he yelled 1912

Well on the beleif this song is american its kinda not if any one thinks that remember that america was not the only one fighting during 1812, the song was made by the most famos russian composer for the war against france which they won but it fits for america as well lol

USA GO GOGO!

would like to se this done with M110. 8 inch howitzers

The guns kind of drown out the music, but still very impressive.

Awful timing of the guns to the music. Really takes the edge off this rendition.

What's the name of the symphony at the ending part?

Ah a good old Russian tune. Putin is so proud;)

1912 overture 0:03 ?

Some body please play this with a nuke

Why are the Army gunners wearing USMC Dress Blues? I am probably confused, but the iconic blue shirt with a high collar along with the blue pants and white hat are standard issue USMC uniform. Perhaps the artillery pieces are army owned.

Are they using blank rounds?

Where is this at

'MURICA

USA army's shot is better than Japenese

Isnt it a ZIS gun from ww2?

I don't like how they didn't fire in the correct spots in the song. And the kept blasting through the end which I felt ruined the piece.

Random fire....

why this is out of syc !

What is this choir called?

why do you guys shoot in the wrong time?

you misspelled sixteen lol

:D

mother russia plays this with 240 mm howitzers, you guys should be ashamed of yourselves... lol

Typically....they did it THEIR way.......not the original way.....the guns were out of sync....poor demo.

All those responsible for operation fast and furious will pay before Jan 20... What? U Mad Bro?

very poor totally out of time