''Masquerade'' was written in 1941 by

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; rus, Арам Ильич Хачатурян, , ɐˈram ɨˈlʲjitɕ xətɕɪtʊˈrʲan, Ru-Aram Ilyich Khachaturian.ogg; hy, Արամ Խաչատրյան, ''Aram Xačʿatryan''; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet and Armenian ...

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

for a production of the play of the same name by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n poet and playwright

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...

. The music is better known in the form of a five-movement suite.

Background

Khachaturian was asked to write music for a production of ''Masquerade'' being produced by the director

Ruben Simonov Ruben Nikolayevich Simonov (russian: Рубен Николаевич Симонов (2 April 1899, Moscow, Russian Empire – 5 December 1968, Moscow, Soviet Union) was a Soviet and Russian actor, theater director and pedagogue. People's Artist of ...

. The famous waltz theme in particular gave Khachaturian much trouble in its creation: moved by the words of the play's heroine, Nina – "How beautiful the new waltz is! ... something between sorrow and joy gripped my heart." – the composer struggled to "find a theme that I considered beautiful and new". His former teacher,

Nikolai Myaskovsky Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky or Miaskovsky or Miaskowsky (russian: Никола́й Я́ковлевич Мяско́вский; pl, Mikołaj Miąskowski, syn Jakóbowy; 20 April 18818 August 1950), was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is som ...

, attempted to help Khachaturian by giving him a collection of romances and waltzes from Lermontov's time; though these did not give immediate inspiration, Khachaturian admitted that "had it not been for the strenuous search" for the appropriate style and melodic inspiration, he would not have discovered the second theme of his waltz which acted "like a magic link, allowing me to pull out the whole chain. The rest of the waltz came to me easily, with no trouble at all." Khachaturian dedicated the waltz to the actress who played Nina,

Alla Kazanskaya Alla Alexandrovna Kazanskaya () (15 June 1920 – 25 June 2008) was a Russian stage and film actress. She began her career at the age of 18 at the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. Her most notable film appearance was in the Academy Award-winning ...

. ''Masquerade'' premiered on 21 June 1941 in the

Vakhtangov Theatre Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; russian: Евге́ний Багратио́нович Вахта́нгов; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian-Armenian actor and theatre director who founded the ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, directed

Andrei Tutyshkin Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй , Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: *Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman *And ...

and starring

Iosif Tolchanov Iosif Tolchanov (russian: link=no, Иосиф Толчанов) was a Soviet actor. Honored Artist of the USSR (1962). Biography Iosif was born on 11 May 1891 in Moscow. From 1911 to 1914 he studied at the University of Liège in France, afte ...

as Arbenin and

as Nina. On the following day Germany invaded the Soviet Union and its production run was cut short. On 23 July 1941 German air-bombing completely destroyed the Vakhtangov Theatre, killing many actors and personnel, and destroying the elaborate stage decorations. Tutyshkin continued successful performances of ''Masquerade'' while in evacuation in Siberia.

Suite

Later, in 1944, Khachaturian extracted five movements to make a symphonic suite. The movements are: #

Waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

Nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

Mazurka The mazurka (Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character de ...

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

Galop In dance, the galop, named after the fastest running gait of a horse (see Gallop), a shortened version of the original term galoppade, is a lively country dance, introduced in the late 1820s to Parisian society by the Duchesse de Berry and popul ...

Recordings

In 1954, Khachaturian recorded the Waltz, Nocturne, and Mazurka from the Suite, conducting the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

for Columbia (also setting down some of his other scores in the same sessions). * 1958,

RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra The RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, sometimes also known as the Victor Symphony Orchestra, RCA Victor Salon Orchestra, the RCA Victor Orchestra and the RCA Orchestra, was an American studio orchestra founded in 1940 by the RCA Victor record label for ...

Kirill Kondrashin Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin (, ''Kirill Petrovič Kondrašin''; – 7 March 1981) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian Conducting, conductor. People's Artist of the USSR (1972). Early life Kondrashin was born in Moscow to a family of orchestra ...

(CD), RCA 09026 63302 2 * 1985, Complete Ballet on film; release on DVD in 2007, VAI 4515.vaimusic.com/product/4515.html. * 1992,

Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) ( gd, Orcastra Nàiseanta Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a British orchestra, based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Or ...

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, ...

(CD), Chandos 8542 * 2008,

Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra (''ANPO'') (Armenian: Հայաստանի ազգային ֆիլհարմոնիկ նվագախումբ) is the national orchestra of Armenia. It was founded in 1925 as a symphony orchestra of the Yerevan S ...

Loris Tjeknavorian Loris Haykasi Tjeknavorian ( hy, Լորիս Ճգնավորյան; fa, لوریس چکناواریان; born 13 October 1937) is an Iranian Armenians, Iranian Armenian composer and conductor. He has appeared internationally as a conductor, servin ...

(CD), ASV CDDCA 773

References

* Yuzefovich, Victor. ''Aram Khachaturyan'', trans. Nicholas Kournokoff and Vladimir Bobrov. New York, Sphinx Press, 1985. {{Authority control zh-yue:面具舞會組曲 Armenian music Incidental music Compositions by Aram Khachaturian Orchestral suites 1941 compositions