Children's Notebook

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 Shostakovich, for her piano studies. Only six of them were originally published under this title; the seventh piece ("Birthday", written for his daughter's ninth birthday in 1945) was later appended to the collection.

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 Festival Overture (Op. 96).

References

• Fay, Laurel (1999). Shostakovich: A Life. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513438-9.