Footprints

When we walk, we intentionally or unintentionally leave our own footprints. They are signs of life and at the same time our own history. It is the same with composing. Three military march from Russia, Germany and Japan were the compositional motifs in my last piece “John Rabe-Endstation Siemensstadt”. After finishing that composition, they sounded in my head for a long time, so I decided to write an independent piece from three soldier songs.

The Russian song “Steh auf, steh auf, du Riesenland” is very melodic in three-four time. The German “Panzer Lied” in four-four time

sounds an edgy, stiff but folksy march. The Marine Soldier Song from Japan presents a direct, aggressive character of the army in two-four time.

In the composition “Footsprints” these three marches come one after the other but are related by a common chord; namely E-flat, D, A. The chord symbolises the common history of World War II and its cause: National Socialism.

Dedicated to Stanislav Venglevski