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