The Year 1812, festival overture in E♭ major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture, is an overture written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate Russia's defence of its motherland against Napoleon's invading Grande Armée in 1812. The overture debuted in Moscow on August 20, 1882, conducted by Ippolit ...