Before I get to this nonsense about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, I feel like I should come clean with those virtue-signaling Leftists out there. The one’s pretending to stand with Ukraine by rejecting Vodka and such.
Russian and Thousand Island salad dressings are the same thing.
So, how do they spin that?
No Thousands Island ‘cuz Russians or, it’s okay cuz if you call mayonnaise, ketchup, relish (and some seasoning) something other than ‘Russian’ it’s acceptable. Like looting and rioting is okay if it is (even just superficially) for a cause you support.
BLM sets buildings in DC on fire, and that’s a peaceful protest but unarmed Trump supporters let into the US Capitol by security guards is an insurrection.
Just like that?
It’s stupid, to which I’ll add this.
Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture was due to be included in the orchestra’s upcoming all-Tchaikovsky concert at St David’s Hall on 18 March, but it was considered by the orchestra ‘to be inappropriate at this time’.
From Cardiff, Wales to Moscow – Take that, Vlad!
To which Billy Binion at Reason adds this very relevant bit.
Nationality and prodigious talent aside, …The composer [Tchaikovsky] is an inappropriate scapegoat for another reason: He was one of the first and only Russian composers to eschew Russian nationalism and endear his music to the West, becoming what many historians would consider one of the few bridges between Russian and European artistry.
He also loved Ukraine.
Can we safely say that the people associated with The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra who decide such things get the majority of their information from outlets like the BBC, CNN, etc.
And maybe they know their audience better than I ever will. It might be that they would suffer a decline in ticket sales were they to allow the glorious strains of Tchaikovsky’s work to reverberate in their halls.
More likely, they are victims of their own political class. They expect all sorts of negative press and pushback from whiney liberals, and they’re just playing the odds.
And that’s exactly how the Left puts an end to everything and why even the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra needs to take a stand and push back.
The composer spent several months a year in Ukraine and had close family ties to the region; his paternal grandfather was born there. “I found the peace of mind here that I had unsuccessfully sought in Moscow and Petersburg,” he once wrote, ever the outsider.
Tchaikovsky was, it seems, the opposite of what Putin’s Russia is today. For that, he should be elevated and enjoyed, but no one seems to have time for that anymore. It is more important to virtue signal no matter how misplaced.
