Bob Kasenchak wrote:

>Anybody know of a film, possibly by Shostakovich, called something like
>"The Baroness & the Hooligan" (possibly a bad translation)? I find no
>record of any such film, and I have a piece supposedly by DSCH called
>"Comic Waltz [from the Baroness & the Hooligan." Maybe it's a ballet?
>Who knows.  Anyone with a clue please clue me in.  Thanks as usual...

Hello again!  This would be a ballet, not a film score, entitled "The
Young Lady and the Hooligan" (Baryshnia i khuligan) with music by
Shostakovich, though 'assembled' into this form by composer Levon Atovmian.
It was premiered at the Magelot Theater in Leningrad on Decmber 28, 1962
with choreography by Konstantin Boyarsky.  That same night, another ballet
compiled by Atovmian from DSCH was preiemered also, namely Direktivny
bantik (or "The Director's Tie-knot".) This work has it's complete
recording with Gorenstein and the Russian Symphonic Orchestra on Russian
Season RUS 288 105.  The notes have the following to say about it's genesis
and approach:

>"The Young Lady and the Hooligan" is not, properly, a ballet by
>Shostakovich, but a ballet with music by Shostakovich, i.e.  a compilation
>of excerpts from various, mainly choreographic (Bolt, The Limpid Stream)
>and cinematographic (The Gadfly), but also instrumental (Cello Sonata)
>compositions.  It was devised with the consent of the composer.."

Among the 13 numbers listed for the score, none are titled "Comic Waltz",
but there are moments within which could pass under that title.  As to the
original provenance of the "Comic Waltz" itself, that could be deduced by
perhaps a harder core DSCH head than myself, although I know all of the
works mentioned above.  If I knew the source of your piece, and could match
it to the right ballet number, I might be able to trace it back to the
original work.

Uncle Dave Lewis
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