The Gadfly Suite, Op. 97a, is a suite

Suite

In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...

 for orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 arranged from the composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 by Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....

 (1906–1975) for the 1955 Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 film The Gadfly, based on the novel of the same name

The Gadfly

The Gadfly is a novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich, published in 1897 , set in 1840s Italy under the dominance of Austria, a time of tumultuous revolt and uprisings. The story centers on the life of the protagonist, Arthur Burton, as a member of the Youth movement, and his antagonist, Padre Montanelli...

 by Ethel Lilian Voynich

Ethel Lilian Voynich

Ethel Lilian Voynich, née Boole was a British novelist and musician, and a supporter of several revolutionary causes. She was born in Cork. Her father was the mathematician George Boole. Her mother was feminist philosopher Mary Everest, niece of George Everest and an author for the...

 (1864–1960).

The Suite known as Op. 97a is an selection of music derived from the film arranged by Soviet composer Levon Atovmian and has been recorded by several orchestras. As of the end of the twentieth century the complete score of the film had still not been recorded in its entirety.

The "Romance" section from the suite, with its beautiful solo violin melody, is known to Western TV audiences as the theme music for the BBC/PBS mini-series Reilly, Ace of Spies

Reilly, Ace of Spies

Reilly, Ace of Spies is a 1983 television miniseries dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian Jew who became one of the greatest spies to ever work for the British. Among his exploits in the early 20th century were the infiltration of the German General Staff in 1917 and a near-overthrow of...

, about Russian adventurer Sidney Reilly

Sidney Reilly

Lieutenant Sidney George Reilly, MC , famously known as the Ace of Spies, was a Jewish Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard, the British Secret Service Bureau and later the Secret Intelligence Service . He is alleged to have spied for at least four nations...

.

Movements

The following are the movements of the Suite Op. 97a as arranged by Atovmian.

1. Overture 03:05
2. Contredanse 02:37
3. Folk Feast (National Holiday) 02:44
4. Intelude 02:38
5. Barrel Organ Waltz 02:01
6. Galop 02:03
7. Introduction (Prelude) 06:18
8. Romance 05:54
9. Intermezzo 05:49
10. Nocturne 04:13
11. Scene 03:18
12. Finale 03:13