Ever Wonder?

Just a quick snarky comment:

Ever wonder how or why a piece of music about the Russian victory over the French in 1812 became a standard for fireworks in the United States?

Just asking.

Note: I played this way back in college when our band (Lehigh) and the Yale Band did a concert at Carnegie Hall. Yes, we used a real, though small, cannon. Now our concert band does it every 4th of July with fireworks for the cannon.