Children's Notebook (Op. 69) is a set of seven solo pieces for piano composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1944–1945. The selections were chosen from pieces written by the composer to his daughter, Galina Dmitrievna Shostakovich, for her piano studies. Only six of them were originally published under this title in 1945 ; the seventh piece ("Birthday", written for his daughter's ninth birthday in 1945) was appended in 1983 to the collection.[1]

Children's Notebook
Piano music by Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich in 1950
Opus	69
Composed	1944 (1944)–45
Dedication	Galina Shostakovich
Movements	7

The sixth piece in the set ("Clockwork Doll") echoes the motif used in Shostakovich's first composition, his Scherzo for Orchestra in F♯ minor (Op. 1). "Birthday" (the seventh piece) begins with a motif which foreshadows the fanfare motif at the beginning of Shostakovich's Festive Overture (Op. 96).[2]

The Children’s Notebook was composed by Shostakovich for his daughter Galina, who was then a child and starting to learn piano lessons. The composer promised her that as soon she mastered one piece he would compose another.[3] Shostakovich recorded all of them during the 1947 Prague Spring Festival.[3]

Pieces

1. March
2. Valse
3. The Bear
4. Merry Tale
5. Sad Tale
6. The Clockwork Doll
7. Birthday (published in 1983)

References