Shostakovich goes for the 'Gold'

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1930, The Age of Gold, a new ballet by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich opened in Leningrad. At that time, it was trendy for Soviet art to extol sporting events, and contrast the wholesome values of the new Soviet society with those of the decadent, bourgeois West.

And so, the plot of this new Soviet ballet ran as follows: a Russian soccer team arrives in a Western city to play a match during an industrial exposition, only to find their heroic endeavors thwarted by a hostile hotel staff, a seductive Western opera diva, and, of course, corrupt police and city officials.

Dutifully following the party line, Shostakovich wrote, “Throwing into contrast the two cultures was my main aim. The dances for the Europeans breathe the decadent spirit of … contemporary bourgeois culture, but I tried to imbue the Soviet dances with the wholesome elements of sport and physical culture.”

One of the lasting hits of his ballet score was a sardonic little polka.

Despite all this political subtext, Shostakovich seemed to be having a whale of a time, as if he rather enjoyed spending a little time — if only musically — in the decadent West.

Music Played in Today's Program

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Polka, from The Age of Gold; Moscow Chamber Orchestra; Constantine Orbelian, conductor; Delos 3257

On This Day

Births

• 1685 - Italian composer and harpsichordist Domenico Scarlatti, in Naples

• 1694 - Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman, in Stockholm

Deaths

• 1874 - German composer Peter Cornelius, 49, near Copenhagen

Premieres

• 1783 - Mozart: Mass in C minor, in St. Peter’s Church, Salzburg, with the composer conducting and his wife, Constanze, the soprano soloist

• 1873 - Bruckner: Symphony No. 2, in Vienna, with the composer conducting

• 1896 - Dvorák: symphonic poem The Golden Spinning Wheel, in London

• 1917 - Mussorgsky (arr. Cui): opera The Fair at Sorochinsky, posthumously, in St. Petersburg (see Julian date: Oct. 13)

• 1919 - Elgar: Cello Concerto, at London’s Queens Hall, with the London Symphony conducted by the composer, and Felix Salmond the soloist

• 1930 - Shostakovich: ballet, The Age of Gold, in Leningrad

• 1945 - Bloch: Suite Symphonique, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pierre Monteux conducting

• 1956 - William Schuman: New England Triptych, in Miami, Florida, by the University of Miami Orchestra, André Kostelanetz conducting

• 1961 - David Diamond: Symphony No. 8, by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting

• 1961 - Robert Ward: opera The Crucible (after the play by Arthur Miller), in New York City; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1962

• 1962 - Gunther Schuller: Piano Concerto, in Cincinnati

• 1976 - Piston: Concerto for string quartet, winds, brass and percussion, in Portland, Oregon

Others

• 1739 - Handel completes his Concerto Grosso No. 6 (see Julian date: Oct. 15)