March of the toy soldiers tchaikovsky biography

song

"The Parade of the Tin Soldiers" (Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten), also known as "The Procession of the Wooden Soldiers", is an instrumental musical character piece, in the form of a popular jaunty march, written by German composer Leon Jessel, in

The Parade of the Tin Soldiers was originally composed for solo piano.

Jessel later published it for orchestra in , as Opus Today, it is also a popular tune for marching bands, concert bands, and small orchestras, and for extremely diverse alternate instrumentations as well.^[1]

Since the early s, the piece has been very popular in the U.S., and has also been frequently performed and recorded worldwide.

A song, "The Pride of the Wooden Soldiers", was also created from the piece in , with English lyrics by Ballard MacDonald.

Rise to international popularity

Recordings of "The Procession of the Tin Soldiers" were made in late and in and distributed internationally,^[2] and Jessel republished the sheet music internationally as well in In , John Philip Sousa and his band played it at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York City.^[3]

In , Russian impresario Nikita Balieff chose Jessel's whimsically rakish "Parade of the Tin Soldiers" for a choreography routine in his The Bat vaudeville revue, changing the title to "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers".^[4] Balieff's wooden-soldier choreography referenced a legend regarding Tsar Paul I: that he left his march grounds without issuing a "halt" order to the marching soldiers, so they marched to Siberia before being remembered and ordered back.

In December Nikita Balieff's La Chauve-Souris (The Bat) revue reached Paris, to great acclaim, and in it was brought to Broadway. Balieff's entertainingly choreographed wooden-soldiers showpiece, with Jessel's well-liked tune, was a sensation, and a by-demand mainstay of his extremely long-running U.S.

production.^[5]

Balieff's Chauve-Souris routine greatly popularized Jessel's harmony, and in multiple editions of the sheet music were published in the U.S. — in fox-trot, march, and concert arrangements, and for numerous instrumentations: voice and piano, with lyrics by Ballard MacDonald;^[6][7] male quartet; little orchestra; full orchestra; violin, piano, and cello; military band; mandolin solo; mandolin and guitar; mandolin and piano; and mandolin, guitar, and piano.^[8] In , Lee DeForest filmed The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, performed by Balieff's company, in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process.

The clip premiered on April 15, at the Rivoli Theater in Modern York City, and is now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the Library of Congress.

The plot is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' short story The Nutcrackeritself a retelling of E. Hoffmann 's short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The ballet's first choreographer was Marius Petipawith whom Tchaikovsky had worked three years earlier on The Sleeping Beautyassisted by Lev Ivanov. Although the finalize and staged The Nutcracker ballet was not initially as victorious as the minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, it became accepted in later years.

In , the instrumental version of "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" was a hit single performed by Carl Fenton's Orchestra, and the song was a knock for the Vincent Lopez Orchestra that same year. Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded and acoustic version in and hat a hit with an electrical version in ^[9]

A Betty Boop cartoon, Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, was created with the music in Also in , The Rockettes began annually demonstrating their own choreographed version of the piece, based on Balieff's original, in their Radio Capital Christmas Spectacular.^[10] The song featured in the Shirley Temple vehicle Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,^[9] and the melody was used that same year in the Disney cartoon Polar Trappers to accompany a scene where penguins protest behind Donald Duck as he tries to lure them to a trap.^[11]

Song

Though far less often heard than Jessel's original instrumental piece, Ballard MacDonald wrote English song lyrics for the tune,^[6][7] in ^[12]

The toy shop door is locked up tight And everything is quiet for the night. And suddenly the clock strikes twelve, The fun's begun! The dolls are in their best arrayed, There's going to be a wonderful parade. Hark to the drum, Oh, here they come, cries everyone Hear them all cheering, Now they are nearing, There's the captain stiff as starch. Bayonets flashing, Music is crashing, As the wooden soldiers march; Sabers a-clinking, Soldiers a-winking, At each attractive little maid.

Here they come! Here they come! Here they come! Here they come! Wooden soldiers on parade. Daylight is creeping, Dollies are sleeping. In the toy shop window fast; Soldiers so jolly, Think of each dolly, Dreaming of the late hours that's past. When in the morning, Without a warning, Toyman pulls the window shade, There's no sign the Wood brigade Was ever out upon parade.

The song is not seasonal per se but is often used as a Christmas piece.^[9] A version sung by The Crystals is on the album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector.

Harry Connick, Jr. sings it on his album, When My Heart Finds Christmas. It is also on Disney's Very Merry Christmas Songs DVD.

Notable later uses of the instrumental piece

The Rockettes have been performing their own choreographed version of the piece, based on Balieff's La Chauve-Souris original, since in their annual Radio Metropolis Christmas Spectacular.

This instrumental rally (originally composed for piano) was written by the German composer, Leon Jessel in and called, “Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten” (translation: The Parade of the Tin Soldiers). In , John Philip Sousa and his band played it at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York City.

The work is a staple of the Boston Pops orchestra. They have recorded it at least 10 times.^[13]

In Great Britain, "The Parade of the Tin Soldiers" was used for many years in BBC radio's Children's Hour to introduce the series Toytown, based on stories by S.

G. Hulme Beaman. The recording used was by the Unused Light Symphony Orchestra.

Fairport Convention's Dave Swarbrick used the main melody as one part of the medley "Royal Seleccion No 13" on their album The Bonny Bunch of Roses, where it is titled "Toytown March".

The band used the medley as their set opener on more than one tour.

The ballet premiered at Christmastime inand has since been one of the most popular ballets in the world. It is based on E. The young young woman, named Clara, is gifted a magical nutcracker in the costume of a soldier for Christmas. Clara comes to the aid of the nutcracker in his explosive battle with the army of mice.

See also

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