Schumann wrote the first 19 pieces of his “Album for the Young” for children. He was apparently interested in writing music for his daughters. However, he and his wife would have given unusual piano instruction because his wife, Clara, was one of the most famous concert pianists of that era.
His idea was to write more interesting and creative things for young players, an idea shared by many other famous composers.
“Soldiers March” is relatively easy and it is only 45 seconds long. For pictures I needed something about soldiers, but I didn’t want anything that would glorify war. So I picked Christmas tree ornaments and nutcrackers. In fact, I think we have some of these ornaments on our tree.
Would you believe? I did only one violin exam, and this was one of the two pieces. Good memories – loved the jauntiness. It is even nicer on piano which after all is what it was written for.
A very bouncy piece. Sounds very childish, but innocent childish. If I hadn’t known this was for children, the music would have been very jarring given the name. Maybe a bit short for a March.