Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers: A Song History

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The piece began as "Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten" ("The Parade of the Tin Soldiers"), a solo piano work, Opus 123, by the German composer Leon Jessel, dated to 1897.[1][2] The Magdeburg firm Heinrichshofen published it in 1905, along with an edition for theatre orchestra.[1] Jessel, born in Stettin in 1871 to a Jewish merchant, had his biggest hit with the 1917 operetta Schwarzwaldmädel.[3][4] Under the Nazis his works could be performed in Germany only until 1937, and in December 1941 the Gestapo arrested him in Berlin; he died on January 4, 1942, in the city's Jewish Hospital after severe mistreatment in custody.[3][4]

Japanese color woodblock triptych of a marching military parade, with drummers and fife players leading rows of soldiers with bayoneted rifles

Utagawa (Ippōsai) Yoshifuji, Parade of the Emperor's Troops, triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, 1867. Real soldiers rather than toy ones, shown in fun; it has no connection to the piece.

In 1922 the New York publisher Edward B. Marks issued it as "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," including a fox-trot song arranged by J. Bodewalt Lampe with English words by Ballard MacDonald, who is not credited on the sheet.[1][5] A library copy of that song bears a credit line for La Chauve-Souris, the revue of Moscow's "Bat Theatre" presented in America by F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest.[5][6] The revue's 1922 edition opened at the 49th Street Theatre in New York on February 4, 1922.[6] Paul Whiteman's orchestra recorded the piece for Victor on January 2, 1923, and it was issued on Victor 19007 that March.[7]

Since 1933 the Radio City Rockettes have danced a "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" number to it in their Christmas Spectacular, ending with the line of soldiers collapsing backward, one against the next.[8][2] Dana Gruber includes it in Classical Melodies For Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer, a book of thirteen classical melodies for chromatic mountain dulcimer in DAD tuning, with solo arrangements and four duets, published by Fingers Of Steel.[9]

Our book that contains the song "Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers"

Sources

  1. IMSLP: "Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten, Op.123 (Jessel, Léon)".
  2. PBS / GBH: "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers".
  3. City of Chemnitz: "Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz: Leon Jessel".
  4. Berlin.de, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf: "Rede am 21.11.2012 zur Gedenktafelenthüllung und Buchvorstellung".
  5. Santa Cruz Public Libraries Sheet Music Catalog: "Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers: Fox-Trot Song".
  6. New York Public Library Research Catalog: "Chauve-souris".
  7. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor 19007".
  8. Smithsonian Magazine: "After a Century, the Rockettes Are Still Kicking Their Way Into American Hearts".
  9. Fingers Of Steel: "Dana Gruber, Classical Melodies For Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer".
  10. Image: Utagawa (Ippōsai) Yoshifuji, Parade of the Emperor's Troops, triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, 1867. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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