Reply to Jerry Hall --  I saw your question in the MMD about a piece
you thought might be called "the Battle of Waterloo".

From the description it sounds as if you might be referring to
Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory or the Battle of Vittoria".  (The
"1812 Overture was in fact written to commemorate the Russian repulsion
of the French from Moscow and therefore does not have any English
melodies in it.)

This piece, written in 1813 was intended as a "picture in sound",
celebrating Wellington's victory over the French in the last great
victory of the Peninsular War on June 21, 1813.

Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, inventor of the ear-trumpets that Beethoven
used, and the now ubiquitous metronome (Maelzel's Metronome MM=80 or
whatever) had persuaded the composer to write this piece for his
proposed mechanical orchestrion the "Panharmonicon".  Beethoven was
also to score it for full orchestra and they intended to go on tours
with both versions, a plan which sounded very promising financially.

The Panharmonicon was a behemoth automated mechanical orchestral
machine run by air pressure, which played flutes, clarinets, trumpets,
violins, cellos, drums, cymbals, triangles and so on.  It could also be
made to shoot off muskets and other weaponry.

Beethoven wrote carefully to the capacities of the machine, but
troubles with the apparatus kept delaying the premier, and so the
orchestral version was premiered, along with the 7th Symphony, on
December 8, 1813, as part of a concert given for the benefit of
soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau.  It was a triumphant success.

The leading musicians in Vienna took part:  Schuppanzig, Maseder and
Romberg were among the string players, Hummel and Meyerbeer played
Timpani, the latter always coming in after the beat, to Beethoven's
annoyance; 19-year-old Moscheles played the cymbals, while Beethoven's
teacher Salieri, with Siboni, led the artillery.

The orchestra and performance were brilliant, despite the personal
direction of Beethoven, whose deafness led him to adopt extraordinary
methods to make himself understood by the orchestra.

The score is written for three orchestras, with augmented sections
of brass and percussion, flintlock muskets and a battery of field
artillery.  The principal orchestra occupies stage center, with a
secondary orchestra at stage left representing the French forces and
another on the right representing the English forces.

Beethoven's score fixes the exact point where each of 188 cannon shots
are to be fired, as well as entry, direction, and duration of the
musket shots, each volley notated as tied, trilled notes.

The French forces are represented by the war song "Malbrouk s'en va
t'en guerre", known to Americans as "The Bear Went Over the Mountain".
The British are represented by "Rule Brittania".  A victory finale,
featuring a vigorous rendition of "God Save the King", brings the piece
to a tremendous close.

I have two records of this piece, both over 20 years old, Mercury
SRD-19 which includes Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture complete with
carillon and cannon, and Deutsch Grammophon 139045, which also includes
many military marches by Beethoven.

It is possible that the record you heard was the Mercury one, as the
artillery and carillon were recorded separately and added to the mix in
the studio.

I would be quite surprised if it was not available on CD.  I hope this
information is of some value.  It is one of my ambitions to recreate
this piece with MIDI one of these days.

Best wishes, Bill Kibler, "the PinWiz"
pinwiz@geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/6809
http://homepage.usr.com/p/pinwiz100