Shostakovich: The Golden Age, Op.22

Introduction

The Golden Age or The Age of Gold, Op. 22, is a ballet in three acts and six scenes by Dmitri Shostakovich to a libretto by Alexander Ivanovsky. Choreographed by Vasili Vainonen (first act), Leonid Jacobson (second act), and V. Chesnakov (third act), it premiered on 26 October 1930 at the Kirov Theatre.

The work was performed eighteen times and was initially censored due to its inclusion of modern European dance styles.

Plot summary

The ballet is a satirical take on the political and cultural change in 1920s' Europe. It follows a Soviet football team in a Western city where they come into contact with many politically incorrect bad characters such as the Diva, the Fascist, the Agent Provocateur, the Negro and others. The team fall victim to match rigging, police harassment, and unjust imprisonment by the evil bourgeoisie. The team are freed from jail when the local workers overthrow their capitalist overlords and the ballet ends with a dance of solidarity between the workers and the football team.

Shostakovich himself was a very keen football follower, and is said to have coined the expression "Football is the ballet of the masses".

Instrumentation

Woodwinds: 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais), 3 clarinets (2nd doubling Eb clarinet, 3rd doubling bass clarinet), 2 saxophones, 2 bassoons (2nd doubling double bassoon).

Brass: 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, euphonium, tuba.

Percussion: timpani, triangle, woodblock, tambourine, flexatone, ratchet, snare drums, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, xylophone, bayan, harmonium.

Strings: violins, violas, cellos, double basses, banjo.

Suite

Shostakovich extracted a suite from the ballet, Op. 22a, in four movements:

1. Introduction (Allegro non troppo)
2. Adagio
3. Polka (Allegretto)
4. Danse

He also arranged the Polka for solo piano (Op. 22b) and piano four hands (Op. 22c), in 1935 and 1962 respectively.

Revivals

In 1982, Yury Grigorovich and Isaak Glikman revived the ballet with a new libretto. Grigorovich also chose to integrate other works of Shostakovich into the score. In 1983, he created The Golden Age for Irek Mukhamedov, who defined the role of Boris, the young workers' leader, for successive generations of Bolshoi dancers. They moved the action to the USSR in the 1920s to a restaurant called "The Golden Age". Conflict unfolded between the Soviet Komsomol and the gang. The premiere took place on 4 November 1982 in Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre.

In 2006, the playwright Konstantin Uchitel wrote a new libretto for the same music. The action was set in our time. Old man and old woman meet and remember their youth. The premiere took place on 28 June 2006 at the Mariinsky Theatre.