Dmitri Schostakowitsch

Dances of the Dolls

Dmitri Shostakovich earned his living with the piano in his early years, for example as an accompanist for silent films. He performed publicly as a pianist until the 1960s and mostly played his own works. Like Maurice Ravel, Shostakovich also made orchestral versions of some piano pieces. The movements of the seven-part suite Puppet Dance, on the other hand, which was written in 1952 for young piano students, first existed as orchestral works from the film, stage and ballet music of the 1930s. The Lyrical Waltz is the fifth number from the Third Ballet Suite, which in turn originates from the third act of the ballet The Bright Bach op. 39. The Romance and the Polka are also taken from this ballet. The Gavotte is also found in the Third Ballet Suite. The First Ballet Suite is the source of the Waltz Joke, which is subtitled The Little Ballerina . The Final Dance is the only original composition in this distinctive suite.