"Galop" from Moscow, Cheremushky
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Admirers of Shostakovich's dramatic symphonies and concertos are likely to be unaware that the composer also wrote a very substantial quantity of lighter music as well, never scorning the possibility of creating a hit song. In his early days he composed incidental music and songs for many plays and even created a full-fledged operetta in the 1930s (it has only just turned up, after being lost for many years, and is not even listed in The New Grove Dictionary of Music). He composed film music throughout his career as well, for both tragic and comic tales. In 1958 Shostakovich returned to the operetta for a full-scale three-act work, Moskva, Cheryomushki (the title refers to a region in the city of Moscow), which opened on January 24, 1959, to substantial success.