The Parade of the Tin Soldiers
The Parade of the Tin Soldiers (Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten), also known as The Parade 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 1897.
The Parade of the Tin Soldiers was originally composed for solo piano. Jessel later published it for orchestra in 1905, as Opus 123. 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 1920s, the piece has been very popular in the U.S., and has also been frequently performed and recorded worldwide. A song, "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers", was also created from the piece in 1922, with English lyrics by Ballard MacDonald.
Rise to international popularity
Recordings of The Parade of the Tin Soldiers were made in late 1910 and in 1911 and distributed internationally,[2] and Jessel republished the sheet music internationally as well in 1911. In 1912, John Philip Sousa and his band played it at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York City.[3]
In 1911, 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 parade grounds without issuing a "halt" order to the marching soldiers, so they marched to Siberia before being remembered and ordered back.
In December 1920 Nikita Balieff's La Chauve-Souris (The Bat) revue reached Paris, to great acclaim, and in 1922 it was brought to Broadway. Balieff's entertainingly choreographed wooden-soldiers showpiece, with Jessel's popular 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 music, and in 1922 multiple editions of the sheet music were published in the U.S. — in
In 1922, the instrumental version of The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers was a
A
Song
Though far less often heard than Jessel's original instrumental piece, Ballard MacDonald wrote English song lyrics for the tune, in 1922.[10]
The toy shop door is locked up tight
Hear them all cheering,
|
Here they come!
Daylight is creeping,
When in the morning,
There's no sign the Wood brigade
|
The song is often used as a Christmas piece. A version sung by
Notable later uses of the instrumental piece
The work is a staple of the Boston Pops orchestra. They have recorded it at least 10 times.[11]
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 New 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.
See also
- Babes in Toyland (operetta) ("March of the Toys")
- "March of the Wooden Soldiers" ("March of the Toys")
- Babes in Toyland (1961 film) ("March of the Toys")
- "
- The Nutcracker ("March" in Act 1)
Notes
- YouTubeperformed by recorder ensemble, by the Nanyang Elementary School Recorder Orchestra in Taiwan (2009).
- ^ 1911 Berlin recording of The Parade of the Tin Soldiers for Russian distribution. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
- ^ "Sousa at the Hippodrome" (PDF). New York Times. November 11, 1912. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ Segel, Harold B. Turn-of-the-Century Cabaret. Columbia University Press, 1987. p. 267.
- New York Times. June 6, 1922.
- ^ Per information visible on the cover of the 1922 sheet music.
- ^ "Public Domain Day 2024 | Duke University School of Law". web.law.duke.edu.
- YouTube
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
- ^ "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers". Digital Commons, Connecticut College. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
- ^ Amazon list of Boston Pops albums containing Jessel's piece
External links
- 1911 Berlin recording of The Parade of the Tin Soldiers (audio) at Russian-Records.com
- "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" at Hymns and Carols of Christmas. The song's history and complete lyrics.
- Essay on Leon Jessel and The Parade of the Tin Soldiers by Jeff Matthews at Around Naples Encyclopedia