Russian choral music?

http://youtu.be/xlb3Ef480Gs

 

In a way, this reminds me of a 33.33 LP record album that was probably made sometime back in the 1970's that (among other selections) featured the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy as conductor, and "some choir" (possibly the Mormon Tabernacle Choir [but I'm not 100% positive as to which choir it actually was]) performing the very rarely performed choral introduction of the very famous"1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky with the words of the Russian (Czarist) National Anthem sung in English!

I was simply amazed at the lyrics! More than likely most of the native Russians who might have sung and/or listened to that anthem were probably doing so from a Russian Orthodox religious perspective (as opposed to, let's say, an IFB, "KJV-ONLY[!!!]" perspective), but this anthem's lyrics goes much further than, e.g., the "Star-Spangled Banner," does in its very dependance upon God to preserve "our native land."

For those who may not know, Tchaikovsky was commissioned to compose this overture as part of a 1862 national celebration that commerated the 50th anniversary of Napoleon's defeat at the outskirts of Moscow.

Most scholars attribute Nap's defeat more to the fact that he waited a bit too long to start his proposed "conquest" of the Russian Empire such that his supply lines were stretched far too long to be able to effectively re-supply his invading forces w/ badly needed cannons, ammunition & fresher troops than to that of the comparatively grossly outnumbered Russian military might.

All the Russians basically did was to continue to attack from behind w/ relatively minor skirmishes here & there as opposed to any really major man-to-man battles.

As with Adoph Hitler's ill-fated invasion some 128 years later in WW2, when Russia once again proved that their greatest military ally was the dreaded Russian winter climate!! (As the old saying goes, history many times has a way of repeating itself!)

Moreover, just like with Beethoven's "Egmont" or Rossini's "William Tell" (the old TV western classic "Lone Ranger" theme!), etc., here is another case of the overture's music being more popular down through the years than "the 'main thing'" turned out to be. (I guess the same would also apply to, e.g., Beethoven's masterpiece, Symphony #9 in D minor, Op. 125 ["Choral"].)