Tchaikovsky, V for Vendetta, and our national songs

Last Monday, I watched NSO's concert at Hyatt with Itha, Netta, and Netta's friend Titin. It was our last girls'-night-out together before Itha departed to Jakarta on Wednesday morning. Too bad Bunga and Truni didn't like classical/instrumental music.

The concert was divided into three segment:
Chris Watson - Jangeran (a classic-romantic piece combined with Balinese gamelan and Balinese dance) [ I Gusti Kompiang Raka - Percussionist Bali Ethnic; Anak Agung Ariawan - Bali Dancer ]
Johannes Brahms - Op.102 in A minor, concerto for violin and cello [ Atsuko Watanabe - Violinist; Yasuro Chomei - Cellist ]
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6, Op.74 in B minor "Pathetique"

It was really nice and romantic, just like the theme "Great Romantic Music". But I almost fell asleep during the last piece. Not because I was bored, but I was so tired after spending the day queuing at the bank to pay the police fine. And the music itself was soothing.. ;)

Listening to Tchaikovsky that night kind of reminded me I haven't found this music piece from the movie 'V for Vendetta' that I like very much, the one played when V blew the building. After googling and wiki-ing, finally I found it at multiply. It turned out to be the 17 minutes long '1812 Overture'. The part played in 'V for Vendetta' was from the minute 15:48 onwards.

There's something familiar in this composition. After listening repeatedly, I found that in minute 6:30 (repeated in minute 6:45, 7:20 and 11:30) the music was very similar to our national song. You only need to add the lyric "dari Sabang sampai Merauke, berjajar pulau-pulau..". It also rings a bell to the song "Garuda Pancasila". Were our national songs really taken from that classical composition?

Btw, just like mentioned in Netta's blog and as written in the program guide:

...So much has been written about Tchaikovsky's emotional power in his music, and his rather tragic end. Either he died of cholera by accident or committed suicide by drinking unboiled water. The debates are still going on.

I found this in wikipedia:

Tchaikovsky died nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique, on November 6, 1893.
Most biographers of Tchaikovsky's life have considered his death to have been caused by cholera, most probably contracted through drinking contaminated water several days earlier. In recent decades, however, theories have been advanced that his death was a suicide. According to one variation of the theory, a sentence of suicide was imposed in a "court of honor" by Tchaikovsky's fellow alumni of the St. Petersburg School of Jurisprudence, as a censure of the composer's homosexuality.

What an interesting life back then, huh? No need to drink Baygon to commit suicide, just drink water from the sewage.. :p